Bad Boy
by Angelsaurus
Summary: After his capture, Aizen receives the unusual sentence of being returned to a 5 year old child. Now Momo is in charge of caring for an inexplicably naughty little Captain. Can she raise him up right? Or will someone unsavory get their hands on him first?
1. Chapter 1

Free Talk- I'm back in school now so I don't have time to write… I also don't have much inspiration. But here's something I wrote over the summer. It's the first chapter of an Aizen and Hinamori story that I wanted to write. I might finish it one day, but I don't know. I just figured it would be a waste to let it sit in a folder on my hard drive. If anyone thinks it's worth continuing, please tell me. School's out in December... Hopefully I will be writing more after that. But nothing is certain.

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

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Chapter 1: Sentencing

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Momo perched tensely on the edge of her seat in the gallery, her small, nervous hands scrunching and twisting the bow of her white sash. On a day like this, the heat penetrated all the way down into the central chamber, and nobody could tell the anxious perspiration on the young woman's face from the heat-sweat that bathed everyone else in the sweltering courtroom. The only soul who looked cool and comfortable was the convicted criminal, who sat casually in his chair on the floor, smiling despite being restrained by the most powerful binding techniques. 

If anybody did notice how nervous Momo was, they would probably assume that she was afraid Aizen's punishment wouldn't be severe enough, that he wouldn't get what he deserved. This would not be a ridiculous presumption. Momo had been present in the courtroom every day of the trial. She had testified her side of the story for the prosecution, painting a picture of a ruthless monster that used her feelings to manipulate her then discarded her as soon as she wasn't useful anymore.

He was guilty, and she knew it now. The conviction came without shock. It was the verdict that everyone had anticipated, had wanted. Not a single soul was even willing to defend him. Now the word at the forefront of every mind was 'execution.' Any lesser sentence would cause a realm-wide uproar.

And yet, after watching Aizen smiling smugly through weeks and weeks of emotional testimony, Momo still couldn't bear the thought of his death. She knew he was disturbed. Maybe he really was evil. But Momo just couldn't believe that he was 'evil beyond redemption,' a popular phrase during this trial. There had to be a reason why Captain Aizen was what he was. And there had to be a way to fix it. Momo's heart squirmed in her chest. She knew she was the only one there who wanted to fix him.

"Are you okay?" The whisper in her ear was laced with concern. "If you need to get some fresh air, I'll go with you."

Through all of her worrying, Momo had forgotten for a moment that her close friend, Toushirou, was sitting right next to her. "That's okay," she whispered back without turning. "If we left now, we'd miss the sentence. Besides, it's even hotter outside than it is in here."

A comforting hand landed on Momo's shoulder and she heard her friend reply softly. "Don't worry, he'll get what's coming to him."

The young woman's shoulders rose slightly as she drew in a quivering breath. "I know," she said.

Because the murdered Central 46 had not yet been replaced, and because the convicted criminal was once a member of the Thirteen Divisions, Aizen's fate would be decided by General Yamamoto and a handpicked jury of respected elder shinigami. An unsettling silence fell over the courtroom as the six men and six women were led in to make their official ruling. Momo's eyes darted anxiously back and forth between Aizen and Yamamoto, as the former sat relaxed in the defendant's seat and the later stepped up to the podium to announce the sentence.

"Shinigami of Soul Society, the Grand Jury has reached a unanimous decision in the sentencing of Aizen Sousuke. Having been accused and convicted of grand treason, conspiracy, terrorism, and multiple counts of first-degree murder, the jury has determined that the only punishment befitting the criminal is…" Momo held her breath as the old man spoke. "Death by Soukyoku."

Even though it was exactly the sentence that she had been expecting, Momo still went completely numb when the words entered her ears. For only a few fractions of a second, she remained silent, a buzz of whispers humming all around her. Then her mouth opened before her brain had fully authorized it.

"I object!" she shouted. The courtroom went quiet again and all eyes, even Aizen's, turned to the small young woman in the front row of the gallery. She stood up and opened her mouth again to apologize for her outburst, but that wasn't what came out. "I object to this sentence! I object to the execution of Captain Aizen!"

"What are you doing?" Toushirou whispered through his teeth. He grabbed Momo's wrist and tried to pull her back down into her seat, but she wouldn't budge. The girl now realized that she had meant every word that she said, and nothing would stop her from at least making her argument heard by General Yamamoto. Wriggling her hand free from her best friend's grip, she vaulted over the gallery railing and deftly landed on the floor below.

"General," she addressed as she walked up to the podium where he stood, ignoring the stunned stares that hit her from every direction. She bowed humbly before the venerated shinigami, saying a prayer in her head that she would find the right words. "I am very sorry to have interrupted the courtroom proceedings, but please hear me out."

The old man regarded her for a moment with wise grey eyes. "I will allow it," he said, causing another wave of murmurs to spread through the room. "Go ahead Vice Captain Hinamori."

"Sir," she began. "I have been hurt as badly as anyone else in this courtroom by Captain Aizen, and I do believe that he deserves to be punished. But execution is so final. Can't you give him a second chance? There has to be some way for the Captain to redeem himself."

"The convicted does not want to redeem himself," the General stated firmly. "He made it quite clear during his trial that he feels no remorse for any of his actions, not even for trying to kill you, Vice Captain. No, I am afraid that Aizen Sousuke has turned his back to all things good and can never be reintegrated as productive and cooperative member of Soul Society."

Momo's plea took on a much more desperate pitch. "But he wasn't born evil! Something must have happened to him to make him like this! Maybe he had a traumatic childhood and was mistreated! Maybe if he had gotten more love and attention… he could have turned out to be the man we all once thought he was! But… but if you kill him and burn up his soul…!"

By this point, the young woman's voice was cracking, tears rimmed her eyes, and she was nearly hyperventilating. She didn't even notice that her white-haired friend had jumped the railing and followed her until he put his hand on her shoulder and spoke calmly in her ear. "Ease down, Momo. Just take a step back and catch your breath. I think the heat has gotten to you. So just come with me outside where there's at least a breeze."

"Shiro…" she squeaked. "No! It's not the heat! I don't want them to kill Captain Aizen! Another death isn't the answer! Please, General! There has to be a way to save him!"

Yamamoto closed his eyes and shook his head. "You know very well that it is impossible to reverse history in Soul Society, the Living World, or any other known realm. Our time cannot be reset to when Aizen Sousuke was a child in Rukongai, before he chose the path he did. I am sorry, Vice Captain Hinamori."

Drawing in a quivering breath through her nose, Momo closed her eyes and let her chin fall against her chest. She had tried her best to change Captain Aizen's sentence, but it wasn't enough. As she turned away from the podium to leave the courtroom, like Toushirou had suggested, it took every fiber of will power she had not to look over at the man whose execution she'd tried to halt. Even with that cruel, feckless expression painted on his face, Momo knew that looking at Aizen when she knew he was going to die would break her heart.

She'd only taken one step towards the door when the General's voice stopped her."Why do you leave, Vice Captain Hinamori, when I have not yet finished speaking?"

Immediately, she turned around and answered timidly. "You haven't?"

"I haven't," the old shinigami replied, not a trace of anger in his voice. "As I was saying, the time in Soul Society cannot be set back. However, a shinigami of wisdom and experience, with an immense spiritual pressure, might be able to reverse the clock for one individual soul."

"You mean someone like you?" Momo whispered.

Yamamoto nodded. "I cannot perform this spell, but I do know a shinigami who can." He paused for a moment then continued in a louder voice, now addressing the entire room. "In light of Vice Captain Hinamori's earnest request, I hereby rescind the previous sentence. Aizen Sousuke shall not be executed. Instead, he shall be returned, in mind and in body, to the human age of five years old so that he may be reeducated and reformed into a productive member of Soul Society."

An immediate roar of dissent tore through the courtroom, growing louder and more defiant until Yamamoto spread out his arms and bellowed. "Order in my courtroom!" The room fell silent once again and he continued in a quieter but no less commanding voice. "Now I ask that the criminal be brought before me. And I also require the assistance of Captain Unohana Retsu."

Two tough-looking shinigami hastily attached leads to the collar around Aizen's neck, the overwhelming strength of the kidou binding him making the task quiet strenuous. The villain let them lead him without any resistance, smiling vaguely, like a man who had just gotten away with something.

Momo watched anxiously as Captain Aizen and his escorts approached from one side of the courtroom and Captain Unohana approached from the other. The 4th Division captain was unmatched in grace and beauty, with dark, intelligent eyes and long black hair plaited across her chest. Momo was always awestricken by her motherly patience and compassion, but the way Unohana was looking at Aizen right now sent a shiver over the surface of the younger woman's skin.

"Captain Unohana, you may begin," the General said.

With a nod of compliance, the Captain took a container of black substance from a small sack on her hip and dipped her fingertips into it. She reached out and touched Aizen's handsome face. He didn't blink or flinch as she deftly painted an elaborate pattern over his features, or even when she pushed the top part of his white prisoner's kimono off his shoulders and painted across his bare chest. Once he was sufficiently decorated, Unohana took the long blade Minazuki out of its scabbard and held it out, touching the tip of the blade to the design on Aizen's chest.

The reaction was almost immediate as the black paint turned blood red and began to glow. Everyone in the courtroom was watching, transfixed, but Momo's gaze alone was concentrated on Aizen's face. Just before his whole body turned to white light, for the briefest moment, she saw an expression she'd never seen on his face before. It was fear. A second later it was completely swallowed up in bright light and the shinigami seemed to deflate before everyone's eyes.

The light was intense but brief, quickly fading and leaving an empty white kimono in a heap on the floor right where Aizen had been standing. A lump in the pile of cloth twitched and Momo took a cautious step forward. The lump wriggled more noticeably and out from under the kimono emerged a small boy with big eyes and generous mop of brown hair. He was very cute and, except for the loose white collar around his neck, very naked.

Momo was the first one in the courtroom to say anything. "Hello," she greeted gently.

The little boy blinked curiously at her before opening his mouth to speak. "Who the Hell are you?" he asked loudly, wrinkling his nose in annoyance. "All of you, who are you? And why are you all staring at a naked little kid? You perverts!"

"Perverts?" Momo uttered. "Where would a child learn a word like that?" She stooped a bit lower so that she was on the same eye level as the boy. "Is your name Aizen Sousuke?"

The child folded his small arms across his chest and looked her in the eyes defiantly. "Yeah, what's it to you? I'm the one who should be asking questions! I went to bed last night and woke up in a weird room with a buncha perverted grown-ups staring at me in my birthday suit!"

Momo had to put a hand in front of her mouth to hide a small smile at the shear ridiculousness of this situation, of this child. She became more serious, though, when she turned around to address General Yamamoto and Captain Unohana. "I hate to question you two… but are you sure you did it right? This little loudmouth can't possibly be Captain Aizen."

Behind her she heard little Sousuke's voice barking at her. "Hey lady! Are talking about me behind my back?"

"The procedure was flawless," the Unohana said.

"This is Aizen Sousuke at five years old," Yamamoto added. "I take it you had different expectations?"

"I don't know what I was expecting," the young woman admitted. She looked over her shoulder at the young boy, who was now trying his best to tie the oversized robe around his tiny body, snapping an occasional rude remark at the gawking crowd. "This kid is just so mean and obnoxious. Evil or pretending to be good, Aizen never acted like this."

"Aizen Sousuke has been returned to before his adult personality had developed," the old man informed. "It wasn't until later that he learned to conceal his meanness and selfishness. These are his formative years. Isn't this what you wanted, Vice Captain Hinamori?"

Momo smiled wistfully. This _was_ exactly what she had requested. Yamamoto had defied the will of everyone else in Soul Society to grant it. "This is what I wanted," she said. "I'm happy. At least Aizen will get a second chance now. And he _is_ awfully cute…"

"I'm glad you feel that way," the General said. "Because from now on he's your responsibility."

"What!" Momo gasped. "My responsibility?"

"Why yes, Vice Captain," Yamamoto responded. "You are the one who argued that Aizen could be redeemed. Now prove it. Take care of this little boy and show him all the love in your heart. If the evil inside Aizen Sousuke was really the product of a troubled childhood then this time around he will grow up to be as kind and compassionate as you."

The young woman squeezed her fists nervously. "But I… I don't know if I can really do it. I don't know if I can handle a kid like this all by myself. What if I end up making Captain Aizen's life even worse than it was before?"

A knowing smile came onto the old man's wizened features. "You'll do fine," he said. "Just be yourself. And you won't be alone. Everyone in Soul Society will support you."

Momo looked around the courtroom and her heart swelled with doubt. Every eye in the room save for hers and the General's was glaring hatefully at the fidgety little boy. They all had wanted Aizen to die. His sentence was an injustice in their minds, and she was the one responsible for it. How could they possibly support her?

As if sensing her uncertainty, Yamamoto placed a hand on the top of the anxious girl's head. "In time they will come realize that this was the right decision. They will support you. And I won't allow anyone to harm either one of you."

"Hey! So when is someone gonna explain to me what's going on?" a rude voice interjected. Little Sousuke was pulling against the leads attached to his collar, straining like a poorly trained puppy.

"Let him come over here," Yamamoto told the two guards.

As soon as the guards dropped their ends of the leads, the tot was staring right in the old man's face, his big brown eyes filled with venom. "I know you were talking 'bout me gramps," he snorted. "Just go ahead and tell me! Tell me what you're planning to do with me!"

Even when faced with such a belligerent child, Yamamoto seemed as composed and patient as always. He smiled at Sousuke and spoke in calm, measured tones. "I understand that you must feel overwhelmed, young fellow. After all, you have been torn from everything that you are familiar with and plunked down into a room full of strangers. But neither I nor anyone else here is planning to harm you. We are merely discussing your living arrangements. You see, Sousuke, you have been brought here so that you may have a loving home and receive a proper upbringing."

"A loving home?" the kid said from under a crinkled brow. "A proper upbringing? By who? You, gramps?"

With a slight chuckle and a small shake of his head, Yamamoto gestured towards Momo. "Actually, this young woman here is the one who will be taking care of you. Her name is Hinamori Momo."

"Hello," Momo greeted for the second time, beaming the youngster her brightest smile and hoping that he wouldn't notice how nervous she actually was.

Sousuke squinted his eyes and scratched his chin as he inspected her. Then, after a brief pause, he spoke up. "I know who you are," he said matter-of-factly.

Momo pulled back and blinked. "You do?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Sousuke replied. "I know _exactly_ who you are. You're one of those jerks form Soul Society… a shinigami. Am I right? We're in Soul Society right now, aren't we?"

"Y-yes," Momo answered. "We are in Soul Society. And I am a shinigami. I'm not a jerk, though. I promise to be nothing but nice to you… Sousuke."

Without a trace of embarrassment, the little boy replied. "Who's paying you and how much?"

Momo's response was almost involuntary. Her lips curled up into a smile before a giggle bubbled its way out and grew into to an outright laugh, feminine and sweet. Despite Sousuke's scowl at her laughter over him, Momo continued until she had to wipe tears from the corners of her eyes. When it was finally out of her system, she stooped down and offered her hand to the boy. "Come on," she said. "Let's you and me go home."

General Yamamoto nodded in acknowledgement of the arrangement before turning around to address the room. "This courtroom is hereby dismissed. Please do not loiter here. Go back to your homes and families."

Shinigami spilled out into the isles and shuffled towards the exits, muttering over the sentence in scathing tones. To Momo their voices were just a vague buzz in the background as she watched the little boy who had once been her Captain. He was staring suspiciously at her hand, as if it might be poisoned. When he finally reached out to her, Momo swore she could see his tiny hand tremble in the air and it occurred to her just how frightened he must be.

_Poor Captain. Everything about him was reset to being a child. It really is like he woke up in a strange place filled with people who hate him for reasons he can't figure out. His whole life is being rearranged and he has no idea why. This Aizen doesn't know the horrible things he will do when he grows up. No. He won't be like that this time around. I won't let him turn out that way. I'll figure out why he's so argumentative and rude and find out how he went from this to cold-hearted and ruthless. And I'll figure out how to set him straight. That is my only goal right now._

Just as her thoughts were reaching a conclusion, Momo felt a hand, soft and small, slip into hers. "Okay," Sousuke said without making eye contact. "You win. Let's go home."

Momo smiled and led the tiny version of Aizen to the door, brushing past Toushirou without noticing the 'what have you gotten yourself into' look he was beaming at her. Her eyes were focused only on Sousuke, walking as best he could with an oversized kimono dragging for a meter behind him. "I think the first thing we need to do is get you some clothes that fit."

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Free Talk- First I must say thank you to everyone who commented. Your support means the world to me. Well, despite the time-guzzling monotony of schoolwork, I somehow managed to squeeze out another chapter. It wasn't that hard since this chapter is really to establish the interaction between Momo and little Sousuke. Unfortunately, I now have a big problem with this story (besides not having time to write it). I like this idea and I think it has a lot of potential, but I don't think I am a clever enough author to write it to it's full potential. I honestly do not know where to go with this story. Should I make it all cute and sweet? Or more intriguing? Should I stick to Momo's point of view? Or at some point have Sousuke's too? No matter what I do I know I will feel like I could have done it better. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions? If you don't, that's fine. Hope this chapter is okay.

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

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Chapter 2: Moving In

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"_This_ is where you live? Jeepers, I thought you shinigami lived in big castles an' stuff. But your place is kinda dinky, isn't it?" For such a tiny boy, Sousuke fit a remarkable amount of venom into his words. 

"I… uh…" Momo didn't have any words handy to reply with. She hadn't led the boy five steps into her home, and already he was expressing his dissatisfaction. "Well… This is a standard vice captain's apartment. Not many shinigami live in mansions." She let out half a giggle. "And none of us live in castles."

"I guess it's not _that_ bad," Sousuke said grudgingly. "It's still bigger'n anyplace I've ever been in. Fancier too. You got windows."

Momo cocked her head curiously at the little boy, who was now kicking off the comically oversized prison sandals he'd been flopping around in since his transformation. The entire walk home the only words out of Sousuke's mouth had been rude repetitions of "so where is this place?" and "are we there yet?" He made no mention of the family and home he had supposedly been torn from less than an hour before.

Momo nibbled the inside of her lower lip. _It's too soon to ask. I have to get him to trust me first. There'll be plenty of time to learn about his childhood and figure out what went wrong. But what kind of experiences could he have had if windows impress him?_

" Hey lady, are you just gonna stare at me all day or what?"

"Oh, sorry," she replied, shaking the daze from her head. "I sort of drifted off for a moment. You know, you can just call me Momo if you like."

Sousuke's face puckered up in thought. "Momo, eh? So… _Momo_, got anything to eat in this place?"

"Don't you want to put on some clothes fir…" Momo stopped just before the last word fully formed on her tongue. Her memory had just conjured up an image of her best friend Toushirou at this age, insisting on cooking his fresh catfish despite being caked head-to-toe in mud from the effort of catching it. "Of course. Food comes first."

Momo's apartment didn't have a separate room for the kitchen, just a quiet corner of the living room, partially sectioned off by a thin screen wall. "Come on Sousuke," she chirped back as she walked towards it. The soft padding of little feet and the drag of cloth over hardwood told her that he was following her.

Then, a sudden thud brought the boy's steps to a halt and a string of expletives spewed from his mouth. "Stupid damn crappy pole! Hit me in the nose!"

In a spin, Momo was facing Sousuke, who was scowling severely and rubbing his nose with both hands. With a growl, he changed them into fists and held them defiantly in front of the large wooden support beam that had injured him.

She flew immediately to his side. "Don't! You'll just hurt your hands, too. Sousuke, are you okay?"

The little fists released and the grimace softened. "You… are worried about me?"

"Of course!" Momo exclaimed, dropping elegantly down to her knees. "You just walked right into a wooden beam! You could have gotten seriously hurt!" Gingerly, she brushed the wavy brown hair off of his forehead and began looking for any sign of a welt.

_His skin is as soft as a baby's. His hair is too, but it's still the same color it was when he was an adult… That is… It's the same color it **will** be when he **becomes** an adult. Wow… That's so strange to think about…_

"It only hit me in the nose," Sousuke's whined, dragging Momo out of her reverie. "You don't have to touch my head like that."

There was something else, besides annoyance, just barely detectable in his voice. Momo pulled back slightly and noticed that his cheeks were pink. _He's blushing? How cute! Is it embarrassment or shyness?_

"I didn't see it," he mumbled, unable to make eye contact. "The pole, it just came out of nowhere."

It took a moment starring at the boy for Momo's brain to realize the significance of what he'd just said. "Didn't see it, you say?" she asked. "Wait right here, Sousuke. I'm going to get something from another room."

She moved swiftly across this room and into the next, the one where she slept. _Where did I put them? Oh! The drawer!_ She went to her wooden desk and pulled open the drawer, sifting through a large assortment of pens and pencils until she fished out what she was looking for. A small smile crossed her face as she held it in one hand and shut the drawer with the other. _So they weren't just a part of his disguise_.

When she returned to the main room, she was greeted with a snort. "What was that all about, Momo? And how come it took ya so long? If you were lookin' for a band-aid, I don't need one."

"Not a band-aid," she replied, unperturbed. Then she took his small hand and transferred the item she had retrieved. "Here, I think these will help you."

"Glasses?" Sousuke moaned. "I can't wear these! The guys'll make fun of me an' beat me up!"

"What guys?" Momo asked. When the boy didn't offer a response, she continued. "There aren't any guys here. Just me. And I won't make fun of you or hurt you, ever. But if you wear them you'll be able to see better and you won't bump into things."

Sousuke puffed out his cheeks as he considered his options, his eyes not on the glasses in his hands, but on Momo's hopeful face. "Well… I guess if it's just you and me here…" He put on the glasses, which were far too big for his small face and barely stayed on his bud of a nose. "So why do ya have a pair of glasses in your home if you don't wear 'em?"

"They belonged to someone I used to know," she answered, trying her best to sound completely casual. "Those are just a spare pair I kept around because he misplaced his a lot." She sighed softly between sentences. "Yeah, for someone so refined he was surprisingly careless with his glasses. Now, why don't I make us some dinner? I have a recipe that I think you'll really like."

Momo could feel Sousuke's gaze touching her back as she cooked the rice and simmered the sauce. It had been one of Aizen's favorite meals when he was her Captain, the dish she cooked for him when he'd had a rough mission and came back to headquarters weary and wilted. No matter how bad a day he'd had, no matter how many hollows he'd gone up against or how much pointless bureaucracy he'd plodded through, Aizen always smiled when he ate her cooking. He would say something like "if you weren't such a helpful vice captain, I'd tell you that you should be chef," and her face would get warm. Now she wondered if he really had enjoyed eating what she cooked for him and if little Sousuke would as well.

"Smells funky," he said, tugging on her black hakama. "So is this stuff done yet?"

She answered his query with a smile and a nod and carried two bowls to the table. Sousuke sat down across from her, eyeing the bowl of food in front of him suspiciously and poking at it with his chopsticks.

"Is something wrong?" Momo asked.

The boy scrunched up his face. "I've never had food like this before. It looks kinda barfy. Are you sure it's safe to eat, Momo? You're not trying to poison me, are you?"

"Just try it," she replied kindly. Then she took a bite to demonstrate that it was safe.

Cautiously, he took a bite, and then another. Momo watched him with silent fascination as he continued taking small bites, closing his eyes each time to savor the taste. With his mouth occupied he couldn't spout any sass. He was a graceful child, and for the first time all day, Momo saw a part of her beloved Captain in him. The way he ate, the way he held his chopsticks, even the way his glasses steamed up was like her Captain Aizen.

_Should I take this a good sign? It could just be a coincidence… But maybe it isn't. Maybe some of the things he did when he was being 'fake' really came from somewhere inside him. Yes. I have to keep believing that._

"So, was it okay?" she asked when Sousuke had emptied his bowl.

He picked up the huge sleeve of the kimono still tied around his waist and wiped his mouth with it. "I guess it wasn't so bad. I'm still alive aren't I? So now whudda we do?"

Momo picked up both bowls and went to rinse them in the sink, replying as she went along. "Well, it's been a long day for both of us. I think a nice hot bath and a good night's sleep are in order."

Sousuke leapt to his feet so quickly he almost knocked the table over. "What?" he shouted. "A bath? I knew it! I knew you were nothin' but a witch! Acting all nice and filling me up with yummy food! This whole time you just wanted to give me a bath! You mean ol' witch!"

The sudden outburst left Momo in a state of shock that took a few moments to recover from. Her voice still sounded a bit stunned when she replied. "You… you really hate taking a bath? Well… I guess if you feel that strongly about it, the bath can wait until morning."

"No! No! No!" Sousuke began yelling but he stopped when his brain finally processed the words his mouth was already protesting. "Wait," he said more calmly. "Did you just say I _don't_ hafta take a bath tonight?"

Momo nodded. "Not if you don't want to. If we get up early we can use the officers' bath and maybe you won't find it so awful."

"It's still a bath," he snorted softly. "And all baths suck. But… at least it's not tonight. So where the Hell am I gonna be sleeping to… What're you covering your eyes for, Momo lady? And your face is red…"

"Ki-kimono," Momo stuttered, keeping one hand over her eyes while the other pointed to the heap of fabric now resting on the floor around Sousuke's ankles. "You're kimono fell down. I can see your… you know…" For some reason, she couldn't help peeking through the cracks between her fingers as Sousuke looked down curiously at his own private parts.

"Oh," he said calmly. "You mean my wiener. I'll cover up again if it bothers you."

"What kind of boy are you?" Momo asked once he was decent again. "Earlier you yelled at a whole room full of people, calling them perverts because they were looking at you naked. Yet you don't seem to even care that I saw everything. Why's that?"

Sousuke shrugged dismissively. "You're the one getting a red face over a naked kid. What kind of lady are you, Momo?"

The child had a point and the adult didn't have a response, so she deflected the attention. "You certainly are precocious."

"Pre-what-what?" he asked in utter confusion.

Momo smiled as she let out a sigh. "Let's get ready for bed." She went over to the closet and pulled out her spare bedding and pillow and one of her old yukata. "It's too small for me, but it will probably still be too big for you. It will fit much better than what you've got on now, though."

"Okay," Sousuke answered.

He was sounding much more subdued now and Momo figured it must be out of tiredness. That was probably why he didn't get mad that she saw him naked, too. Still, she turned around so he could change with some privacy. When he said, "I'm dressed," she faced him once more.

"Do you want to sleep out here or in my room with me?"

"Out here," he snorted. "Why would I want to share a room with some dumb girl?"

Oh… okay," Momo said calmly. She knew feeling hurt over such a small rejection would be pointless. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about anything before you go to sleep?"

"What's there to talk about?" he retorted.

"Okay then, here's your bed and pillow," Momo said, handing over the pile to his small, waiting arms. "If you need me, I'll be in that room over there. Good night, Sousuke."

The kid was already busy spreading out his bed on the floor and didn't even look at her when he answered. "Night, Momo lady."

Lying in her bed, under a thick sheet of darkness, Momo couldn't get to sleep. It was impossible with everything that had happened, with a tiny version of the Captain she loved so much just on the other side of a door. She wasn't even sure how she felt about the kid. Except for a few small traces, he was nothing like Captain Aizen. But there were stranger facets to him than just his smart mouth and short temper.

_He didn't even ask me why he was staying here with me. He didn't ask about his friends or family either. Does he even have any? Is Sousuke really a bad boy? Is it safe to leave him alone in another room in my home? How do I take care of him?_

The questions kept piling up, like sands in an hourglass, clogging Momo's mind and keeping her from sleep. Her eyes were still wide open when she heard a tiny knock at her door and sat up. "Who is it?" she called, even though she knew there was only one person it could be.

The door creaked open to reveal Sousuke standing in the thin shaft of dim light. His pillow was clutched at his side and he didn't speak a word. For a moment there was nothing but stillness between the two of them.

"Do you want to sleep in here with me?" Momo asked softly.

Sousuke remained silent as he tiptoed over to her mattress, pulled back the blanket, and crawled in next to her. He took off his glasses and set them next to the bed then snuggled up close to her so she could feel the small warmth he made against her body. With a gentle sigh, she wrapped her arm over him and pulled him close. He was just a little kid after all.

"This doesn't mean I like you," he muttered sleepily against her chest. "And I still don't wanna take a bath."

To be continued… (hopefully)


	3. Chapter 3

Free Talk- Thank you so much for the comments and support. A couple people suggested last time that this chapter should be from Sousuke's point of view… so it is! I think it was a really good suggestion and I will continue to alternate. The hard part about his point of view, though, is that I don't want too reveal too much too soon. I hope this chapter is enjoyable and starts to hint about things to come (and things that have happened in Sousuke's past). I'm glad I was able to write another chapter because now I have a lot of schoolwork to take care of. It will probably be quite a while before the next update. But I hope some people like this story and will continue to read it anyway. Please, tell me what you think.

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 3: Taking a Bath

* * *

"Sousuke!" 

A kind voice.

"Hey Sousuke!"

A gentle voice.

"Hey Sousuke! Guess what?"

A familiar voice.

The sound filled the child's sleeping ears as a face materialized in front of him. It was a little girl he knew well, wavy brown hair falling around her smiling face, soft eyes shining. She reached out and took both of Sousuke's hands with both of hers.

"Guess what, Sousuke?" she repeated. "Those two shinigami who came to our neighborhood yesterday, they're going to adopt me! I'm going to go live in Soul Society in a big castle!"

"B-but…!" Sousuke croaked. "You can't leave! It's not fair! I want to go too!"

The little girl shoved out her lower lip and furrowed her brows. "You could get adopted too, Sousuke. Lots of shinigami have wanted to adopt you 'cause you're so cute, but you always act bad and then they change their minds. You have to be a good boy to get adopted."

"I wanna stay with you," he whimpered. "Why can't the people who took you take me too?"

"I'm sorry, Sousuke," she replied, with a doleful expression. "I asked them if you could come too, but… They don't want a bad little boy. I'll come back and see you when I can, though. No matter what happens, I'll love you forever." Then she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and turned her back to him.

"Nooooo! Don't go!" he wailed, hot tears streaking his cheeks. "Don't leave me…" He grabbed onto the back of the girl's kimono, but he could feel the fabric slipping through his small fingers as she walked away. She didn't even look back.

Sousuke woke with a desperate gasp into a room he didn't recognize. Whatever he had been dreaming about disappeared and he was left in a dazed state, alone in an empty bed. It wasn't until a pretty young woman appeared in the open door that he remembered where he was and what had happened the day before.

"You're finally up," she greeted cheerfully. "I made some breakfast if you're ready for it."

"It better be somethin' good," he said with a snort. A sudden memory of dinner the night before assured him that it would be, though he would never express how much he liked it out loud.

_Dumb Momo lady. Why she wanted to take me… I have no idea. She just adopted me while I was asleep. She's got a dopey smile, like someone who doesn't realize her friends are cheating at a game. And she made me wear these dorky glasses… But she makes yummy food at least._

Sousuke hastily put on his dorky glasses and adjusted his loose-fitting kimono before scampering out of the bedroom and into the kitchen corner. A tray was already set on the table for him with several dishes of different kinds of foods: rice, miso and a couple he didn't even recognize. He sat down and began shoveling food into his mouth right away, without saying a blessing. He didn't even notice the absence of his hostess until he was almost finished.

Mo… mo," he sputtered through a mouthful of rice. He paused and swallowed so he could call louder. "Momo lady, where are you?"

There was just silence for a few seconds followed by a small, suspicious giggle from the entrance to the dining area. Momo was standing there dressed in a bathrobe, both hands behind her back, and smiling.

"Good morning, Sousuke," she chirped. "Did you enjoy your breakfast?"

"It was okay, I guess," he said, carefully maintaining his unimpressed expression. "So what's with you? You got your hands behind your back… and why're you smiling all big?"

"Did you forget?" she giggled. Then she pulled her hands from behind her back and held out large basket filled with towels, soap and shampoo.

"Agh! You mean the bath thing!" Sousuke stammered. "You're still gonna make me go through with that? You witch!"

"C'mon, it won't be so bad," Momo coaxed. "The officers' bath is huge, and this early in the morning we'll probably be the only ones there. It'll be like a great big hot swimming pool."

The way she put it, it didn't seem so bad. But Sousuke knew that adults were liars. "No," he stated firmly, crossing his arms across his chest. "No baths."

He waited for Momo's response, mentally preparing for an all-out war of words. She said nothing. With her smile intact, Momo transferred the bathing supplies to one arm, walked straight over to him and picked him up by the waist with the other.

"Let's go," she said, even as Sousuke whipped his arms and legs around frantically.

"Lemme go! Lemme go! Lemme go!" he demanded, but she just ignored him. "You can't just pick me up 'cause you're bigger, stupid Momo! Put me down!"

"Sorry," she replied, adjusting her hold on him. "Height is right."

After a brief pause to contemplate what Momo had just said, Sousuke resumed his flailing. At this point he knew that there was no getting out of this dreadful scenario. _But if she's gonna make me take a bath, I'll make it is awful as possible for her! If bath time really sucks, maybe it won't come very often…_

A strange, unexpected warmth flowed into Sousuke's cheeks and he stopped his protesting from the shock of it. He had been thinking about life with this Momo woman in the long term. He couldn't explain why, but for some reason it made him feel happy.

This bliss, however, was interrupted by a small voice from somewhere inside Sousuke's head, a girl's voice. _You can kick and scream to avoid a bath_, she said. _But if you act too bad, she'll send you back. You'll be back on the street in no time._

His chest tightened uncomfortably. "I don't want to go," he squeaked, not realizing it was out loud until Momo responded.

"I know you don't," she said sympathetically. "But we're already here, so we might as well go in now."

"Huh?" Sousuke gaped as Momo set him down on his feet. "When did we get here?" He had been so busy having a tantrum that he completely missed the part where he was being carried out of the apartment and through streets of Soul Society. He and Momo were now standing in the entranceway of huge wooden building, the officers' bathhouse.

"You were kicking and screaming the whole time," Momo informed. "But it doesn't really matter. Come on, the bath is right through that door. Stay close to me."

As reluctant as Sousuke was to take a bath, he complied and followed her. As they passed through the door, however, he caught a glimpse of the sign overhead and immediately halted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he demanded, bringing Momo to a stop as well.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Sousuke frowned. "I may not be able to read very much, but I know what that symbol above the door means! You're taking me into the girls' bath!"

"I'm a girl," Momo replied casually.

"And I'm a boy!" he shouted. "I should be going through the other door!"

A soft sigh escaped Momo's throat as she turned around and stooped low to look at Sousuke eye to eye. Her face held a concerned, almost sad expression as she reached out and touched his shoulder. "I know you'd rather use the men's bath," she said. "But I need you to stay where I can keep an eye on you."

"I'm not gonna do anything bad at a bath," he huffed, though he wasn't sure he could really hold up to his words.

"It's not that," she replied softly. "There are some shinigami here in Soul Society that would be mean to you if the saw you all alone. And if anything bad ever happened to you, Sousuke, I would never forgive myself."

That funny warm feeling was back in Sousuke's cheeks, though he tried to make it go away by wrinkling up his nose. "What kinda jerky shinigami would be mean to a little kid?"

"The kind that doesn't know any better," Momo sighed.

As the words left her mouth, Sousuke heard each one and knew its meaning. But somehow he just could wrap is brain around what she had just said, what it meant. Her face had a strange tinge of sadness when she said it and it made him feel anxious. Tucking his hands behind his head and walking out ahead of her, Sousuke quickly changed the subject.

"Whatever," he snorted softly. "I think you just want to see me nakey again, pervert Momo." A little laugh assured him that the lady's face was no longer sad and it made him strangely happy, just like when he had thought about staying with Momo for a long time.

In the changing room, Sousuke tucked the clothes and glasses that Momo had given him into a cabinet while she changed around the corner. When they met back up at the washing area, dressed in towels, Sousuke couldn't help thinking that Momo was being entirely too cheerful about the situation at hand. "Let's get clean first. Then we can play in the water."

It was just as bad as he'd thought it would be. Momo's fingers tugged and yanked at his hair as foam dripped down his face and into his eyes. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he yelled. "Stupid Momo, you're hurting my hair!"

Her reply was a growl of frustration. "It's not on purpose! Your hair is just so tangled… It's a rat's nest!"

"I like it this way and… Ow! You got shampoop in my eye!"

"You've got to stop squirming," she pleaded. "It'll be over soon, I promise."

Sousuke recognized this right away as a typical grown-up lie. This torture would go on and on, and the only way out of it was to wriggle out of her arms and make a run for it. True, Momo was bigger than him, but wet and soapy his escape prospects were significantly higher. A jerk to the left, a jerk to the right, and he was free. He lost his towel in the struggle, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

"Hee hee! You can't catch me!" he gleefully squealed. Then he took off towards the bath, dripping wet and completely naked. With a resounding shout of "cannonball!" he launched himself into the water.

It was warmer than he'd anticipated, swallowing up his little body in wet fire. Still it felt wonderfully invigorating as it swirled around him supported his small weight. He bobbed to the surface and enjoyed several gulps of steamy air before paddling over to the ledge and grabbing on.

"You look like you're having a good time now," Momo greeted him. By now she was at the edge of the bath, looking down at him with a coy smile. "And I thought you hated baths."

"Aw, I just hate the part where I hafta get my hair shampooped," he replied. "I've never been in a bath this big, though. I didn't even know there were baths this big. It's actually kinda fun. You comin' in Momo?"

She closed her eyes and sighed serenely. "Alright, I'm coming."

Sousuke watched, oddly fascinated, as the young woman sat herself down on the ledge and eased herself slowly into the water with a pleased "ah." He noted with curiosity that her towel remained in place the entire time, soaking wet and clinging around her slender body.

"Aren't you gonna take it off?" he asked. "Your towel, I mean."

"Oh," she replied. Her cheeks flushed vaguely red, but Sousuke couldn't tell if it was just from the heat or something else. She seemed unsure of how to answer, so he spoke up again.

"You don't hafta feel funny about it. I'm naked."

"Yeah, but you're a little kid," she said.

"That's right," he replied with a shrug. "I'm a little kid. I don't care if I see a naked lady."

Momo chuckled gently. "Oh really? I think maybe the tables have turned and now _you _want to see _me_ nakey." She paused and sighed. "The truth is, Sousuke, I never take my towel off in the bath, even when it's just other girls."

The hesitant honesty laced in Momo's voice piqued the little boy's interest. "Why?" he asked. "Are you hiding something?"

"No, I'm not hiding anything," she answered anxiously.

An obvious lie, Sousuke couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand not knowing. "What? What is it? You got a extra belly button? Hairy chest? What is it? Tell me!"

"Just go swim around!" Momo snapped, clutching the towel protectively around her. "Go!"

It was harshest thing to come from Momo's mouth so far. When she said it, Sousuke felt like he had just stepped on broken glass. But there was also a part of him that still wanted to know what was under that towel, needed to know. And her scolding only made the need that much greater.

He paddled around in the water for a few minutes, trying to fight his curiosity, but he knew it was pointless. When he saw Momo's arms relax into the water he kicked quietly over to her side. Under the water's surface, his hand found the dense material of her towel. Then, with one strong yank, it was off.

"Ahhh! What have you done!" she squealed in horror, arms crossed over her chest.

Sousuke just stared. "Whoa… How did you get it?"

Momo's face scrunched up like she was about to cry. Apparently, she'd thought that her arms could cover the scar, but he had just proven her wrong. "I…" She couldn't get out a reply and her arms dropped helplessly to her sides.

It stood out boldly from her pale white flesh, a shiny pink scar right between her navel and ribcage. Sousuke had never seen anything like it. His gut reactions were shock, that Momo had survived such a wound, and disgust, at the sheer gruesomeness of the injury. Yet, for some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of it and wanted to touch it.

"How did you get it?" he repeated softly, reaching out a trembling towards Momo's belly. He expected her to flinch or pull away, but she didn't. She let him lay his little hand over her scar.

"I was stabbed," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "This is what's left of the wound that almost took my life."

"Wow," Sousuke breathed. His eyes traced the edges of the scar that were visible around his hand. "Did it happen when you were fighting someone? You said you were a Vice Captain, right?"

"It didn't happen in combat," she replied. "It was… it was someone I knew…"

"Oh," he said. He couldn't figure out why, but he was afraid to look up at Momo's face as she answered his questions. "So the guy who did it… Did you kill him? Did someone kill him?"

"No, he's still alive. He's no longer around though."

"Do ya ever get scared that he'll come back someday?"

"It's what scares me more than anything."

This final answer pulled Sousuke's gaze immediately upwards to his caregiver's face. It was dripping with sadness she no longer tried to hold back, and as he watched her he felt an electric current of guilt surge through his body.

_She really didn't want me to see this… But I pulled off the towel and made her show me… She's just a dumb girl, though! Errrr… But she's making that face! I hate that face! And I made her face look like that! This was really bad…_

This uncomfortable feeling, like the stepped-on-glass feeling only all over, wouldn't go away. It seemed to be flowing from Momo's scar into his hand and then spreading to every inch of him. He had to get away from her. So, without saying a word, he pulled his hand back and splashed away as fast as he could.

He didn't get far, however. Sousuke was too distracted to pay attention to where he was going and, just a few meters out into the deeper part of the bath, crashed head first into something big and soft. Actually, it was two somethings big and soft, and his head had somehow become awkwardly wedged between them. He tried to pull out, but couldn't.

"Halp!" he shouted instinctively. "Halp! I'm stuck!"

He didn't expect Momo to come to his rescue after what he'd done, but somebody did help. A pair of strong hands pulled Sousuke out from the soft crevice, and when he looked up, he realized that they belonged to the same person.

"You're Ai… Sousuke," the voluptuous woman addressed him.

"Yes'm," he uttered, unable to think of any other reply. She was a totally different sort of woman than Momo, with cascades of strawberry blond hair, pouting lips, and an enormous chest. It was between her gigantic breasts that Sousuke had gotten his head stuck.

"So, I guess if you're here, that means Momo is too?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, she's right over there," he answered, pointing in the right direction. Then he blurted out the question that he could no longer contain. "Lady, how did your boobies get so big? They're way bigger than Momo's."

"Just keep swimming, kid," the woman replied. "I need to go talk to Momo."

From a safe distance, Sousuke watched the large breasted woman talking to Momo. He didn't want his curiosity to cause any more trouble, but he couldn't help wanting to hear what they were saying. So he swam back and forth in a wide arc, moving closer to them with each lap and hoping to remain unnoticed. It took about ten laps before he was able to hear anything. When he did, it was Momo's voice.

"I really want to do it, Matsumoto. I just don't want it to be a big ordeal when I take him back."

A tight fist squeezed Sousuke's heart tightly and wouldn't let go. _That's it. It's all over now… The towel thing went to far… Momo is going to take me back to the street…_

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Free Talk- Thank you so much for the support. I am so happy that people are enjoying the story so far, and I hope you continue to enjoy it. I'm sorry it takes so long to update, but things are pretty busy right now. So far the story has been moving rather slow time-wise (It's still just day two) but things will pick up soon. I really don't have much else to say. Please tell me what you think!

**  
Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 4: Making New Plans

* * *

The warmth of that small, wet hand pressing against her scar penetrated all the way down to the depth of Momo's belly. She'd been so careful since receiving her wound to keep the hideous traces of it hidden, but with a single yank little Sousuke had revealed it and now that it was exposed, all she could do was explain it in as little detail as possible. 

"I was stabbed. This is what's left of the wound that almost took my life."

She watched Sousuke's eyes widen on the scar as he asked whether she was injured in combat and she told him that it was somebody she knew and that the man was still at large. He wouldn't look her in the eyes when he asked whether she was scared that the man would come back, but his gaze shot upwards after she gave him her answer. His round brown eyes, almost too big for his face, contained so much anxiety it tore Momo's heart.

The young woman and the little boy stared at each other like this for an extended minute until the emotion on his face reached a breaking point and he snatched back his hand and splashed away from her as fast as he could. Momo didn't go after him right away. He needed to distance himself from her and she would respect that.

_Poor Sousuke. I don't want to burden him with my scars. And no matter what, I can't let him find out that his hands made that mark. He has to believe that he is a good boy, a boy incapable of hurting anyone._

"Halp! Halp! I'm stuck!" Sousuke's frantic voice wailed from the far end of the bath, interrupting Momo's thoughts.

Momo's heart leapt into her throat, pulsing madly. _He's in trouble!_ Instinctively, her legs started moving her through the water towards his voice, but they halted when she got close enough to make out a curvy silhouette through the thick grey steam. This lovely shape could only belong to Matsumoto Rangiku, and her body language as she plucked the tiny boy from her generous anatomy confirmed her identity. She plunked him back down in the water and Momo heaved a sigh of relief to know he was all right. Then Matsumoto started towards her with a purposeful expression on her face.

"Momo," she greeted, a veil of worry hanging over her voice.

"Hey," Momo replied, her gaze shifting between this woman and the little boy swimming several meters away. "I'm surprised you're here so early. I… I thought Sousuke and I were alone here. I'm so sorry if he caused you any trouble."

"Oh, he didn't bother me," the blonde said with a little smile. "He's surprisingly cute, actually. I don't think my captain has any reason to be worried."

Momo tilted her head sideways. "Shiro is worried?"

"Of course," Rangiku said. "Even if he doesn't say it out loud, you know he thinks of you like a real sister. And he does tend to worry. Heh, I don't know why he'd be concerned about you living with that harmless little squirt, though. Um…" She paused awkwardly for a moment. "So how is that arrangement working out?"

"Well, it's only been less than twenty-four hours," Momo answered. "And a lot of that time was spent sleeping. I do have high hopes, though. I really do think he's a good boy inside. Why are you so interested, Rangiku?"

Ran nervously twisted a wet strand of golden hair between her fingers as she replied. "The truth is… I need your help, Momo, yours and Sousuke's."

"Sousuke?" Momo asked cautiously, she could see that her fellow vice captain was tense. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

Ran chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "It's Ichimaru," She blurted out. "His trial… it starts next week. I need you to testify, Momo. If you and the little guy come in and show the court how well you two are doing then maybe… maybe it will convince them to give Gin the same penalty."

"Rangiku, I really don't think they would execute Ichimaru," Momo said. "They didn't execute Aizen, and Ichimaru was just one of his henchmen."

"Because you intervened," the other woman interrupted. "Aizen's life was spared because you appealed to Yamamoto's sympathies and convinced him that you could fix Aizen."

"Well, you could do the same thing for Ichimaru," Momo pointed out. "You don't need me."

"I know," Rangiku said. "But it would be a much more convincing argument if you testified. Please, Momo. I just want the same thing that you do, to save the soul of somebody I care about."

Momo pursed her lips thoughtfully before responding. "I know you were one of the only ones who didn't think Aizen should get the death penalty… because of your feelings for Ichimaru… But almost every other shinigami wishes that that little boy was dead. I'm not sure it would even be safe to bring him back to that courtroom, in front of all those hate-filled stares. I was even a little scared to bring him here."

"Yamamoto degreed that nobody is aloud to harm either of you," Ran reminded. "If anybody does, they'll be punished. But… I guess I do understand your fear."

"I really want to do it, Rangiku," Momo said. "I just don't want it to be a big ordeal when I take him back."

Miss Matsumoto opened her mouth, about to respond, but a loud and sudden outburst from behind the two women stole the scene.

"You're going to take me back to the streets? Well fine! I never wanted to live in your crummy house anyways, stupid Momo! I hate it there! And your cooking tastes like dog farts!"

"Back to the streets?" Momo uttered, completely baffled. "What are you talking about?"

The anger on Sousuke's face was quickly dissolving into despair now. "You… you told Big Boobs that you're gonna take me back," he sniffed. "I heard you."

"That's not what we were talking about," Momo said, smiling slightly. "We were talking about whether or not I could take you back to the courthouse with me to help out Miss Rangiku's friend."

"I…" he began in a croaking voice but his tensed little body relaxed and his expression softened. "You're not gonna get rid of me?"

Momo shook her head. "Nope, I'm afraid you're stuck with me and my bad cooking." She watched as Sousuke's expression turned into one of absolute relief and it made her chest feel strangely warm. He already liked living with her more than whatever his situation was before. 'Why don't you go swim around for a few more minutes while I finish talking to Miss Rangiku?" she told him.

"Oh fine," he huffed, all of his impertinence fully restored. "But don't take too long, Momo lady."

Matsumoto was grinning as she watched the little boy paddle away. "I gotta tell ya, Momo, no matter what that guy did as an adult, he is one adorable little kid."

"Yeah," Momo said. "But I don't know what to do about that impulsive bratty streak. I don't think he'll make a very good impression on the court if he acts like that… I just don't understand it. He doesn't seem to trust anybody."

"It's definitely not what one would expect a young Aizen to act like," Matsumoto sighed. "So, do you think something traumatic happened to him? Something that would make him so defensive?"

"That's what I need to find out," Momo replied, the water of the bath reflecting in her eyes. "It's the only way I can save him. But I don't even know how to get that kind of information from him. I can't just ask him now and lose what little trust I do have from him. You know, I had no idea he grew up on the streets until he yelled at me just now… But you can see why I'm not so sure about going to the courthouse. If he acts out in front of everybody, it could actually hurt your argument."

"I understand," Ran said, though Momo was pretty sure she detected a note of disappointment in her voice.

"I'm not saying we won't do it," she insisted. "The trial's not for another week, right? Maybe by then he'll be a bit better behaved. If I think Sousuke can handle it… we will help you, Rangiku… Hey, if your plan works, you'll have a little Ichimaru. Do you think it would be wise to let him and Sousuke play together?"

"I dunno," Ran puzzled. "We'll just have to wait and see how things turn out. They might be bad influences on each other. Thank you, Momo. Even if you and the little guy can't make it, thank you for listening and sympathizing." She reached out with slippery arms and pulled Momo against her breasts in a tight embrace. "Good luck," she whispered into the smaller girl's ear. "Both of you."

Momo smiled back warmly. "Good luck to you, too."

"Are you done talking already?" demanded Sousuke, who had returned to Momo's side. "You girlies sure know how to yak. C'mon Momo lady, I wanna leave. My fingers are all raisiny and I hafta pee. Let's go!"

"I'm coming," Momo chuckled. "I'll talk to you later, Rangiku."

She and Sousuke waded out of the bath and began toweling off. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked as she slipped into a fresh robe. By now she was totally unaffected their mutual nudity.

"It wasn't great," he snorted. "But at least now is the longest time b'fore I gotta take another bath. So, we gonna go home now and have lunch? I'm starving."

"I thought you had to go to the bathroom," she said with a raised eyebrow.

Sousuke had just put his glasses back on and he beamed her a big smile. "Not anymore."

An exasperated sigh left Momo's mouth. "You know, you're not supposed to go in the bath, Sousuke." Then she took his small hand and led him back out of the bathhouse, smiling despite herself.

* * *

Even after what he'd said about Momo's cooking, Sousuke had seconds and thirds of the lunch she made him. She didn't mention it. Neither of them said anything about his outburst at bath. 

"So what're we gonna do now?" was the first thing the little boy said. "You're a Vice Captain, don't you got work to do or somethin'?"

"I'm taking some time off," she answered. "As for our plans for the day, I think you and I need to go shopping."

"Shopping," he whined. "That's girl stuff."

"Well you can't keep wearing my old clothes forever," Momo said. "You need something that fits right, boy clothes… especially if we're going to go to the courthouse next week."

Sousuke sank down in his seat and sighed. "Fine. Oh um… just so you know… your cooking isn't _that_ bad, really…"

Momo chuckled softly. "Thank you, that's very good to know. And when you're finished we'll get ready to go."

_He is a good boy_, she thought to herself. _He just says stuff impulsively to protect his feelings. Maybe somebody hurt him in the past… Hmmm… That doesn't explain why he just yanked off my towel when we were in the bath, though. There is only one way I can find that out._

"Hey Sousuke," she asked softly. "When we were in bath, why did you pull off my towel after I said I was going to keep it on?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "Because I knew you were hiding somethin.' You were lying when you said that you weren't, I could tell… Grown-ups are liars and girls are liars. And you're both, so I knew you had ta be lying. But…"

"Yes?" Momo urged.

"But I kinda see why ya wanted to hide it. That scar is pretty gross 'n' nasty… I… I'm sorry I pulled down your towel, Momo."

Without saying a word, Momo came up behind Sousuke's chair and wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the sweet scent of his soft, freshly washed hair. "It's okay," she said. "I'll try not to keep secrets from you or lie to you Sousuke."

Of course, she knew that it would be impossible to live up to her words exactly. There were some secrets that she was determined to keep from him because they would destroy his innocence. _I'll only keep secrets from him if it's for his own good… that's still a lot of secrets, though…_

"Okay, enough mushy stuff!" Sousuke stammered, swatting Momo's arms from around his chest. "So where are we gonna go shopping? Some fancy-schmancy shinigami store?"

"Actually," she said. "I was thinking we might go outside of the Seireitei… East Rukongai has some good shopping." The fact that he might be less conspicuous outside of Soul Society was one of those secrets that Sousuke didn't need to know.

"East Rukongai?" he said in an oddly quiet voice.

"Yes," Momo confirmed. "Have you been there before?"

"No," he stated adamantly. "Never been in my life."

Momo eyed him suspiciously. "Okay… When we get there, I want you to stay close by my side no matter what, Sousuke. Don't wander off or get yourself lost. Now, let's get going."

* * *

Momo took the back roads to get to the gate to East Rukongai, the routes on which she and Sousuke were least likely to run into trouble. By now, word of Aizen's punishment had surely spread to every corner of Rukongai and the residents there were probably just as likely to recognize the tyke as the residents of the Seireitei. But passions in Rukongai were likely to be calmer, and if there were a confrontation, Momo would rather have it with an ordinary soul rather than a shinigami trained in combat. 

"What do you think?" she asked after the gate had spit them out onto a bustling street. "Think we'll find anything good?"

"I dunno," Sousuke answered, uncharacteristically timid. He squeezed Momo's hand tightly and leaned in close to her. "Let's just get what we need to and go home. I don't like this place."

_He's scared, terrified just like when he thought he was going to get sent back. Is this a place he knows? Is it his home? His eyes are darting back and forth. What could possibly have happened here to make him so frightened?_

She was so busy worrying about Sousuke that she didn't notice any stares or whispers from the townspeople around her. It was an open-air marketplace with carts and stands lining the street and souls going about their shopping. One stand nearby had a whole rack filled with brightly colored children's clothes and Momo began riffling through them with one hand while the other still held onto the boy's.

"What color do you like?" she asked.

"I dunno," he grumbled. "Blue… red… whatever. Just buy something and let's go home."

"Don't you want to try the clothes on and make sure they fit?" Momo asked.

"I don't care!" he snarled. "I don't like shopping for stupid clothes! I wanna leave!"

The woman operating the clothing stand rolled her eyes.

"Alright," Momo sighed. "I'll take this one and that one and… that one." Then she looked down at Sousuke, who was clinging to her pants. "No complaining if they don't fit, okay? Now, I don't suppose you're in the mood to get shoes…"

"No shoes," he stated. "Just home."

The saleswoman wrapped up Momo's purchase and handed it too her, and she and Sousuke resumed walking through the streets, his gaze still flying from one direction to the other.

"Sousuke, what are you so scared of?" she finally asked him.

The little boy stopped in his tracks and his jaw dropped as if he were unbelievably offended. "I am not scared!" he insisted. "I'm not scared of nothin'!"

"Well then how come you keep looking all around like a paranoid person?" said Momo. "And you're hanging on to me as if your life depends on it."

"Hmph," Sousuke pouted. "You're the paranoid one, Momo. You told me to stay by you the whole time. I just been doin' what you told me to."

"Well I…" Momo began, but Sousuke cut her off.

"I'll show you who's scared! Catch me if you can Momo lady!" Then he let go of her hand and took off running.

"Wait!" Momo shouted, dropping her package and running after him. "Sousuke, wait!"

Her heart pounded as she dashed through the dusty dirt street, artfully dodging shoppers and salespeople. She could see the little boy ahead of her, but he was maintaining a steady lead. Apparently, a tiny kid who could slip easily through a crowd was an equal match for speed as a vice captain ranked shinigami. When the street split into two, however, she lost sight of him and her brain shifted into double panic mode. The path she had chosen came ended in a small open square and she was forced to a stop.

_Dammit! Dammit! He must have gone the other way_, she agonized as her eyes desperately scanned the area. _Something bad could have already happened to him!_

She was all prepared to run back and follow the other path when she thought she saw a small child going into a shabby, patched black tent that was set up in one corner. "Sousuke," she breathed, even though she wasn't sure it was him. She walked over to it cautiously and peered in through a hole that hadn't been patched yet. It was him. She was about to rush in and fetch him, but she heard his voice talking. He was speaking to a withered little old man with a thin mustache and a scraggly beard and it didn't sound angry or violent. It sounded like he knew the man. So she stood there spying on him, fascination flooding every inch of her.

"Do you remember me?" Sousuke asked. His eyes were wide and his voice full of excitement.

"Mmm… afraid not, son," the old man replied in a creaky tone. "Should I?"

"You're a fortuneteller, right?" the child insisted. "You work here in Rukongai… You told me my fortune! It was just a couple months ago."

"I tell a lot of kids' fortunes," said the old man. "It's how I make my living. I can't say I remember all of them, though."

Sousuke gave a frustrated pout. "Well maybe you don't remember me 'cause I got glasses now." He paused to take of them off. "Now do you remember? I… I came in here with a little girl my same age, with brown hair. You read both of our futures."

The old fortuneteller shook his head. "I'm sorry, kid, but it's not ringing any bells in my old noggin. What is it that I can help you with today?"

"I just need to know," Sousuke said, his face becoming more serious than Momo had seen it so far. "I just need to know if the things you said were true, if they're really gonna happen to me an' her."

"Ah," the man sighed. "Well, I may not remember you specifically, and I may just be a simple businessman on a poor street… But I can assure you that every forecast I've ever made has come true. Whatever I told you and your friend, you can be certain that it will happen. Now, good day to you, young lad, and may fortune smile upon you."

Pulling herself away from the black tent, Momo felt like her whole body had become mysteriously lighter. Her brain was still processing everything she'd overheard. _Sousuke has been here before. He got his fortune told years ago, but he thinks it happened just months ago… It's so weird because Captain Aizen always teased me when I said I wanted to have mine told… But this is big. This clearly had a deep effect on him. Whatever that old man said all those years ago… it might have something to do with how the course of his life went._

The entire situation was captivating to Momo, to finally get a clue into Sousuke's past. But there was one detail that interested her most of all. _That girl… Who was the girl who got her fortune told with Sousuke when he was just a little kid? I have to find out. That's the first step I have to take._

"You… found me," the little boy said in a small voice when he emerged from the tent. He was utterly dazed and barely seemed to know how to react to Momo's presence. "I… was just hiding behind that tent… But I guess you found me anyways."

Momo dropped to her knees and pulled him in for an exceptionally tight hug. "Don't ever scare me like that again." Sousuke didn't hug her back, but he didn't protest either. He was still in a trance over what had happened in the tent. Momo was glad that he didn't seem to notice how badly her arms were shaking, or the tears that were dripping from her cheeks into his hair.

"Come on, Sousuke, let's go home," she said softly.

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Free Talk- Chapter 5 is the longest one yet. I hope that's okay. The identity of the little girl is revealed in this chapter (though some people may have figured it out earlier). I hope there are still enough mysteries to keep people interested in the story. Hmm... I think it may be a while until the next update. I actually haven't thought through what happens in the next one because so much happened in this one. Thank you so much for your support and patience. I'd love to hear what you think! Please share your thoughts!

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 5: Dreaming of the Past

* * *

The old fortuneteller somehow seemed to have aged a great deal in the months since Sousuke had last seen him. He was already old then, but now he looked ancient, and his tent was more patched and raggedy than ever. These details caught the little boy's attention, but only briefly. He had much deeper concerns.

_Everything he says is true_, the boy thought to himself as he walked out of the tent on legs that had suddenly become very weak. _If his predictions are all true… I have to talk to her… I have to tell her… Or should I? Maybe I shouldn't tell her…_ He was so caught up in contemplation that he almost ran into someone who was waiting outside. Luckily, he was able to halt himself in time, and when he looked up, it was Momo who was standing there.

"You found me," he said softly, unable to think of a better greeting. Then he quickly made up a story about hiding behind the tent. Momo didn't need to know about the fortuneteller or what he'd said. Even after just one day, Sousuke could tell that she was the type that would just worry if she knew about it.

Then, without warning, she got down on her knees and hugged him tightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she said.

_Was she really scared? She doesn't know that I wander around the streets all the time. Of course, this is the area where those guys hang out… But Momo doesn't know that, either._

"Come on, Sousuke, let's go home," Momo said.

"Okay," he replied, surprised by how happy the idea of returning to her house made him. "What are you gonna do about the stuff you bought?"

"Don't worry about it," she chuckled softly. "If it's not in the street where I dropped it, then I'll just have to buy more some other time." Then she took hold of his little hand and the two began walking towards the gate to the Seireitei.

This time, Sousuke felt safer. The warmth of Momo's hand wrapped around his own was reassurance that he wasn't alone. He was glad she was there next to him.

"Hey, there's the clothes you dropped!" he announced as they arrived back at the site where their wild chase began. Miraculously, the package had not been trampled or kicked open and was still neatly wrapped in the middle of the dirt street.

"Isn't that lucky," Momo remarked as she stooped down to pick it up.

Sousuke nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back. Something about pausing in this spot made him uncomfortable, as if he could sense somebody watching him. Then he swore there was a hushed whisper from somewhere close by. "That's him right there, with the glasses. I have clear shot at him."

The little boy's eyes darted all around, searching for the source, but all he spotted was a fleck of grey coming towards him. The rock was already on its way and all Sousuke had time to do was duck and cover his head. But it didn't hit him. In a dizzying blur of black and white, Momo had curled herself around him, and by the time his brain caught up to what was going on, all that remained of the attack was a growing welt on the young woman's forehead.

Sousuke blinked out his bafflement. "Momo… did you just let a rock hit you on the head?"

"It's not that bad," she said, though she winced slightly as she gingerly rubbed her skull. "The important thing is that you're okay."

This woman was unbelievable. He stared at her for another moment before saying anything more. "Whoa Momo, that was really, really, really…" he had to stop for a second to think of what word to use. "Stupid!"

"What?" she asked.

"There's no reason that you should get hit," he answered. "Dumb Momo, they were aiming for me! I don't want you to get hurt with a rock that's s'posed to hit me! That's just stupid!"

"No," Momo said firmly, loudly enough that everyone within several meters could hear quite clearly. "What's stupid is someone throwing rocks at an innocent child. It's worse than just stupid, it's… it's criminal!" She scooped up Sousuke in one arm, holding him snuggly against her, and picked up her parcel in other. "Let's get out of this place."

She didn't say a word the rest of the way back to her apartment.

Even when they were back in the peace and privacy of her home, Momo was clearly still very uptight. She set down Sousuke and he watched as she paced back and forth, her hands clenched into fists and her brow furrowed. He wanted to say something to calm her down, but he wasn't sure if it would work.

"Momo lady," he sighed. "Don't be mad. Guys throw rocks at me all the time. Actually… that's what I was scared about when we were out there."

Momo's pacing immediately stopped and she looked down at Sousuke with wide, stunned eyes. "What? Who? Who throws rocks at you?"

Suddenly Sousuke found himself deeply regretting what he'd said. "It's not a big deal," he replied, avoiding looking at Momo's concerned face. "Just some of the other kids on the street don't like me very much so they throw stuff at me and kick me an' stuff. It's nothing."

His sweaty little hands were wringing the hem of his kimono. _Please let that be enough for her… Please let her just drop it…  
_  
"Sousuke," she said softly, kneeling down in front of him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "As long as you're with me, I won't let anybody hurt you. Ever. And if you ever want to talk about your life before you came here, I'll listen. Or if you want to talk about anything else or ask me any questions… if anything is ever bothering you, please don't be afraid to talk to me. Okay?"

"Okay, Momo," he breathed.

"So what would you like for dinner?"

That was it. She didn't ask any more questions about the guys who beat him up or about how scared he'd been. It was almost like she knew how much he didn't want to answer and backed off. This Momo was an interesting lady. But for some reason, the fact that she was so willing to listen to him made Sousuke extra cautious. He barely talked the rest of the evening, and she didn't try to force him, it was a sort of test, really, to see how long she could remain passive and patient.

At the end of the quiet evening, when Momo retreated into her bedroom to go to sleep, she left her door open. "Are you coming, Sousuke?" she called.

Without a word, he crawled under the covers of her bed and nestled up close to her, just like he had the night before. Even if he didn't talk to her she was still willing to share her bed with him, which was good because he didn't want to sleep alone.

Actually, Momo was willing to do a lot for a little boy right off the streets who she'd just met a day ago. She was sharing her home and her food with him, taking time off from her job to take care of him. She even took a rock to the head for him.

As he listened to her breathing and felt its warmth against his scalp, Sousuke wished that he wasn't giving her the silent treatment. Right then, what he wanted more than anything was to ask Momo why she'd ever wanted to adopt him.

When he fell asleep, a sweet-faced little girl with wavy brown hair was waiting for him and anything he wanted to talk to Momo about was left in the waking world. He was back at the entrance that fortuneteller' s black tent on that day months ago.

"Sousuke!" the girl greeted cheerfully.

"You came," he replied happily.

"I had to sneak around to make it," she said. "Mama and Papa are out running errands this morning." Sousuke's happy expression deflated slightly and he looked down at the dirt under his worn-out sandals. "I'm sorry," the girl sighed. "You'll have a Mama and Papa too someday. Remember what I told you, Sousuke, if you act like a good boy, somebody will adopt you."

"I don't need a Mama and Papa," he snorted, kicking up dust with his feet. Then he looked up at the girl and spoke more softly. "I just wish you could be with me and that you didn't have to sneak around. This… this is the first time I get to see you since you left."

The girl grinned and grabbed both of Sousuke's hands. "Then let's make it a really great day! I've got some money. We'll get our futures read and have lunch, and do anything else you want!"

"Okay!" he answered with renewed enthusiasm. She always knew how to make him feel better.

The two children were about to go step inside the fortuneteller's tent, but a rude sneer from behind stopped them in their tracks. "Hey look, guys, it's that little prick, Sousuke."

"Just ignore them," the girl whispered in his ear.

Sousuke was fully prepared to do so, but after just one step forward he felt something hit the back of his head. "Ow!"

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to fight back?" another boy's voice said in a very snotty tone.

Both Sousuke and the little girl turned around at the same time. There were three boys standing there, older kids, about sever or eight. Two of them had rocks in their hands. The one standing in the middle had already thrown his.

"Heh, what's a cute girl like you hangin' out with that little shit Sousuke for?" he asked.

"Leave 'im alone you stupid bully," she grumbled.

"Naw, I don't think we'll be doing that," one of the other boys said. Then he hurled his rock, hitting Sousuke squarely on his forehead.

"I said stop it!" the girl stammered angrily.

But the bullies didn't listen and the last boy sent his rock, the largest of the three, flying towards Sousuke. This one hit him in the belly and the force knocked him backwards to the ground. The bullies exchanged boisterous laughter. "Way to knock 'im on 'is ass, man! Good job!"

The little girl at Sousuke's side immediately lost all composure, lunging violently at the three boys. "Don't you dare pick on him!" she barked. She shoved one of the bullies roughly to the ground and then did the same to the other two, kicking dirt in all three faces.

"This chick's crazy!" one of them growled as he clamored back to his feet.

"You want me to show you more?" she huffed.

"Naw," said the bully. "None of us wants to hit a girl. C'mon guys, let's leave these losers. They aren't worth our time."

By now, the other two delinquents had gotten to their feet and were dusting themselves off. "Hiding behind a girl?" one of them hissed. "Letting her fight for you? You really are a worthless piece of shit, Sousuke."

The bullies scampered off and Sousuke was left in a daze. "That was… Why did you fight them?"

"So you wouldn't have to," the girl said, her voice soft and shaking slightly. "I… I'm sorry… I'm not sure what came over me… but I didn't want you to have to fight, Sousuke."

"I wasn't going to," he sheepishly admitted. "I probably would have just let 'em beat me up… I hate fighting…"

A smile spread on the girl's face. "I know. It's kind of funny because you don't mind stealing and cheating and lying and playing pranks… but you've never liked fighting and I think that's good. If anyone ever gives you trouble, you don't have to fight them. You can just run away. It's okay."

"I…" Sousuke began before he had even thought of something to say. Those sweet eyes watching him made his face feel warm and his heart feel awkward. "Let's just go on in," he said quickly. "To see the fortuneteller guy… yeah?"

"Let's go!" she chirped. Then she grabbed his hand and they walked into the black tent together.

Inside the tent was only dimly lit. Hanging from the wooden frame with scraggly twine were all sorts of strange objects, exotic plants dried in bundles, shriveled snake skins, little white bones of some small creature. All of it made Sousuke feel very nervous and he dragged his feet hesitantly.

"It doesn't look like anybody's here," he said, hoping that they could leave right away. He was even trying to pull the young girl towards the exit with him when a creaky voice spoke, causing him to gasp in surprise.

A short old man with squinty eyes and dressed in a dark red robe stepped out from a shadowy corner. "Welcome my young friends," he said. He paused to take a puff from a long skinny pipe. "I take it you have come to behold the great mystery of the future?"

Sousuke was too anxious to speak, but he heard the girl by his side answer as cheerfully as ever. "Yes! I want to know what my future will be like! And my brother, too!"

"Ah, is this your younger brother?" the man asked, leaning in so close to Sousuke that the boy could smell the pipe smoke on his breath.

"Sousuke is younger," the girl answered. "But only by a few minutes. We're twins!"

The fortuneteller scratched his beard. "Twins indeed are special children. So often their fates are intertwined. Now, I cannot promise that the things I predict will be pleasant or happy. Your futures may be filled with sorrow and tragedy. Are you prepared to learn the truth?"

"I am," the girl said.

"And you, boy?"

"I guess," Sousuke said. "But you can start with my sister."

"Alright," the man replied. Then he turned both of the girl's hands palm side up and traced his thin, knobby fingers along them. He closed his eyes and touched her forehead, and then he furrowed his brow in deep contemplation.

"What is it?" the girl asked excitedly. "What do you see?"

"I see a dashing young man," the fortuneteller answered, his eyes still closed. "Your life will change forever when you meet this man, the man who will be your husband. Yes, this man is your true love and will father your children. But you will have to make a great sacrifice to be with him. Ah, but you will be happy."

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "You can see all that? Sousuke, did you hear? I'm going to find true love and have a wonderful family! You're going to be an uncle someday!"

"Love?" Sousuke snorted. "That's just dumb girl stuff! This guy's just saying that 'cause it's what a girl would wanna hear!"

"Shall I go on to read your future then?" the man said.

Sousuke's voice suddenly got much quieter. "Okay… I guess…"

The old mystic proceeded to trace the boy's hands and touch his forehead, and sank into thought just as he did for the little girl. "Hmm…" he hummed. "Very interesting."

"Is interesting good?" Sousuke asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Well…" the man began, but the boy's sister interrupted him.

"Oh no! I think I just heard someone calling my name. How could they have found me? I have to go check and make sure, Sousuke." He was about to protest, but she continued before he even opened his mouth. "You should stay and hear your future. I'll come right back and then you can share it with me, okay?"

"Okay," he pouted. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead before running off after the sound of her name.

"Such different lives the two of you live," the fortuneteller said thoughtfully. "Your sister has been adopted by a very nice family within the Seireitei and you've been left on the street to fend for yourself. Poor boy. I'm surprised you don't hate her for abandoning you."

"I could never hate Sis!" the boy stammered. "Don't even say that! I… I'm just fine on the street!" His words were growing louder but he could feel that he might start crying at any moment. "Just tell me my future!"

"No need to get angry, young fellow," said the old man. "Despite what you say, I know that you are not just fine on the street. The other children are cruel to you, yes? But your suffering is not for nothing, boy. No, I saw your future and I know that you will be a king. You will rise to the highest position among all souls."

The child's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Me? A king?" he said. "Are you sure?" The old man nodded and Sousuke felt suddenly very excited. "Wow! Wait 'til Sis hears about this! She can bring her dumb lovey-dovey family to see me in my castle!"

"I'm afraid fate will not allow that," the man said.

"What? Why not?" Sousuke demanded.

The old man bowed his head solemnly. "Your sister will be dead by the time your fate is realized. I foresaw it when I read her future."

Sousuke felt the blood draining from his face. "No! You're lying! Sis won't die! If you really saw it you woulda told her! You liar!"

"I am not lying," said the fortuneteller. "I cannot tell my customers when I have foreseen their deaths. If I did then they would waste what was left of their existences trying to change their fates. It would not be ethical."

"Hah!" Sousuke shouted, pointing accusingly at the man. "But you just told me and I'm gonna tell Sis!"

The man took another calm puff from his pipe. "No you won't."

"I will!" the boy insisted.

"No you won't," the old man repeated. "I could even tell you the circumstances of her death and I know that you would not tell her about it."

"Why? 'Cause you think I'm like you?" Sousuke yelled. "You think I won't want Sis to try an' change fate or whatever?"

"No," said the man. "Because you are a selfish, jealous little boy who won't be willing to share such valuable information. Especially after the girl betrays you."

Now there were tears dripping down Sousuke's face. He squeezed his eyes closed and covered his ears with his palms. "Sis wouldn't do that! You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wrong! I'm leaving this place and I'm gonna go find Sis!" Then he regained some composure and stomped towards the exit.

"She will die protecting her first born," the fortuneteller said calmly.

Sousuke felt a shudder climb his spine when he heard the words, but he didn't stop. He pushed through the flap door of the black tent and out into the street. The brightness of the sunlight stung his eyes.

"Sis!" he cried, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Sis! Sis! Where are you?"

"Sousuke!" He heard her calling his name in a distressed and muted voice. "Sousuke! Sousuke!"

She wasn't that far away. He could find her. His little sandaled feet kicked clouds of dust into the air as he shoved past anyone who was in his way, following the source of her cries. Her voice grew louder and clearer the further he ran and he kept calling to her so she would continue calling to him. At last her voice was right in front of him.

"Sousuke!" she cried.

"Sis!" he panted. Flanking her were a man and a woman, both of them wearing shinigami uniforms and stern expressions. "These are your parents?"

"Yes," she said. "These are my Mama and Papa." She paused and the sadness in her face became obvious. "Sousuke… I have to go home now."

"But I have to tell you something!" he said. "Don't you want to hear what the fortuneteller said?"

"I can't," she answered, almost crying. "Sousuke, I can't see you or talk to you anymore."

"You mean today?"

"I mean ever," she whimpered. "I got in big trouble today. Mama and Papa say you're a bad boy and that I can't come and see you anymore because I'll keep getting in trouble. I'm so sorry, Sousuke, but I have to leave you."

"No!" he screamed, grabbing her hand. "You can't just leave me forever! Please, Sis! Don't leave me!"

By now her adoptive parents were leading her away and Sousuke felt her hand sliding out of his.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I… I love you, Sousuke!"

Sousuke wanted to run after her, but his legs had turned into sacks of sand and he fell to the dirt crying uncontrollably. "Sis! Come back, Sis! Sis!" he howled through his tears. Then he started calling her by her name, over and over again, as loud as he could. But she was gone.

With a horrified gasp, Sousuke woke up, back in Momo's bed. His kimono and the sheets all around him were completely drenched in sweat and he was shivering violently. Momo was leaning over him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I think so," he croaked. "Did you wake me up?"

The young woman smiled a very sweet and concerned smile. "You were having a nightmare and you were calling out in your sleep."

"Oh," he replied, suddenly very embarrassed. "I didn't say anything dumb, did I?"

"No," Momo replied kindly. Then her face became more serious. "Sousuke, who is Masaki?"

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Free Talk- Thank you to everyone for the comments and support. I have been surprised and delighted by all the positive feedback. Here is chapter six. It's a Momo and Sousuke bonding chapter really, but it also serves as a bridge between bigger events. Therefore, I hope it isn't too boring or too sappy (things I worry about every chapter). There are still big things ahead in this story. I have it outlined in my head. Please tell me what you think. Oh yes, and a very happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 6: Visiting the Library

* * *

"M-Masaki?" Sousuke stuttered, brown eyes wide and trembling. "What're you talking about? You… you made that name up… I… I…" 

Momo had not expected her question to garner such a reaction from Sousuke. He wasn't just surprised that he had been talking in his sleep and that she had overheard the name. Sousuke seemed embarrassed, humiliated even, that he'd let a secret slip out and revealed his weakness. At least that is how Momo interpreted his response.

"You were yelling the name Masaki," she calmly told him. "In your sleep, right before I woke you up. I was hoping you'd tell me who she is. That is, unless you don't want to talk about it." Now both of her hands were on his shoulders.

Sousuke immediately averted his eyes. "I never said Masaki," he said, the energy gone from his voice.

"Okay," Momo whispered. He was clearly uncomfortable, and continuing to ask him about the name would only make him more so. Masaki was the name of the little girl who went to the fortuneteller with Sousuke, somehow Momo just knew it, and that was more information than she'd ever expected to get from him this early.

"I'm a little bit wet," Sousuke declared, holding his arms out from his body so his moist kimono sleeves hung down. His wavy brown hair was damp and matted as well, clinging to his cheeks and forehead.

"I can see that," Momo replied. "You must have been having quite a nightmare to sweat so much."

The boy scrunched up his face defiantly. "Naw, you just use too many blankets, Momo lady. I got all hot an' sticky."

"I guess I do tend to get cold at night," Momo laughed, indulging Sousuke's excuse. "Now, let's get you cleaned up."

"No!" he shouted, recoiling in horror. "Not another bath! No way! I just had one!"

"I didn't say anything about a bath," Momo chuckled. "You're just a kid, you can skip a day." A tiny sigh escaped as the question of when _she_ would have time to bathe flitted through her brain. But it quickly passed and she turned her attention back to Sousuke. "Come on, let's get you into some dry clothes."

Sousuke was surprisingly cooperative while Momo washed his face and combed his hair and helped him into a fresh kimono. It was one of the new ones she had bought for him, the same light blue color as the morning sky, and it fit him perfectly. After tying his sash and straightening his overlarge glasses, she took a step back just to look at him.

_Now he truly looks like a miniature Captain. Yes, I think with love he can become that man he once pretended to be. He's a good boy._

"You're staring at me all funny, Momo lady," Sousuke huffed. "Are my new clothes dorky-lookin'?"

"Oh, no!" she answered cheerfully. "They look so cute! You're adorable!"

Sousuke did not like this assessment at all. "Cute?" he moaned. "Adorable? That's for girls!"

"Oh? Sorry," she corrected. "I meant that you look very handsome."

"Yeah, right," he said with a note of suspicion. " So, we gonna have breakfast or what?"

The entire time Momo was preparing the meal and then while they were eating, Sousuke remained silent. It reminded her of his strange quiet spell the night before and got her thinking once again about the little girl named Masaki. She rolled the name around in her mind, desperately trying to find a connection, some memory of having heard it before. But she didn't have any.

_Masaki… Masaki… She had to have been someone important to him to cause that sort of reaction. Who is she? By now she must be the same age as Sousuke… that is, the same age as he's supposed to be. I wonder if she's a shinigami? Argh! This would be so much easier if I could just ask him and get an honest answer. But right now he won't even admit that he said her name. If I act too confrontational about it, he'll never trust me. I've got to be patient, no matter how hard it is…_

"Hey idiot Momo, yer pouring soy sauce in yer milk tea!"

"Huh?" With a series of blinks and a vigorous shake of the head, Momo was in reality again, brought back by Sousuke's rude voice. When she looked down at her hands she realized she was indeed pouring soy sauce into her drink and ceased immediately.

"Gosh, did somethin' go wrong in yer head, Momo?" the boy asked curiously. "Or do you like milk tea like that?"

Momo's cheeks reddened with embarrassment she couldn't hide. "I was just lost in thought I guess. It was an accident."

Sousuke cocked his head and smiled crookedly. "You're funny, Momo."

She came dangerously close to blurting out 'you're so cute!' but caught herself in time, remembering that cute was for girls.

"I was thinking we might go to the library today," she said. "You could pick out some books and I'll read them to you. What do you say?"

Sousuke's face was puckered up again. "Library?" he said skeptically.

"Uh, do you not like books?" Momo asked. "I guess I never really asked you what you like to do for fun. I always liked books when I was little, so I thought… What do you like to do, Sousuke?"

He fidgeted with his clothes and answered in an awkward whine. "Aw, I dunno… I like… stuff…"

"What kinds of stuff?"

"Ya know, normal stuff." He scratched at the back of his neck with little fingers. "Just… just forget it, Momo lady. Books are fine, let's go to the library.

* * *

Soul Society's library was an enormous building, housing millions of texts. Although open to all shinigami, division officers had access to additional resources within the institution. It didn't really matter today, though. What Momo and Sousuke had come for was certainly not under any sort of protection. 

Her hand was clutching his tightly as they stepped through the massive wood doors and into the huge front atrium. Although she wasn't completely sure, Momo could have sworn she heard an impressed gasp escape the little boy's throat as he took in the scene. The library looked even bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, like an opulent palace. The floors were white marble, as were the grand twin staircases that curled up to the second and third levels. There were no walls visible. Every inch was covered with shelves of books.

"Hmm…" Momo mused, scratching her chin thoughtfully with her free hand. "I haven't been in here in a long time. I hope I can remember where the children's books are." She had brought a cloth sack with her to carry any books they checked out and it dangled by its straps from her elbow. Sousuke gave it a rude tug.

"This place smells funny," he said, as if to prove that he wasn't impressed. "What do you shinigami need such a big library for, anyways?"

"We have a lot of books," she answered, smiling. "We need a big library to hold them all."

Sousuke rolled his eyes just slightly. "I mean, why do you have so many books? Shinigami are s'posed to fight hollows an' stuff, not waste all their time writing junk like books. Looks like you guys do nothing but write."

"Well, not all of the books in this library were written by shinigami," Momo replied. "In fact, most of them weren't. Most of these books are from the human world and were merely brought here by shinigami. It's a collection that's constantly growing."

"But what's the point?" Sousuke shrugged. "Who's got time to read all this crap?"

"Well… we do," Momo stated. "Come on, let's go."

Momo was relieved that there weren't a lot of other people at the library, though she wasn't too worried about anybody harassing her or Sousuke here. Throwing a rock at a little kid on a crowded street was quite different from attacking him in a library. The children's section seemed particularly safe. When they arrived in the cozy little quadrant of the second floor, a few parents stared for a few moments, but their eyes quickly returned to the books they were reading quietly to their children. Most of the patrons didn't even notice them.

"So, what kind of stories do you like?" Momo asked.

"I dunno," Sousuke said softly.

She let go of his hand and faced him down on her knees. "You know, I'm surprised by how quiet you're being, Sousuke."

For a moment, he just looked at her then he opened his mouth as wide as he could and shouted full blast. "SHOULD I BE REALLY LOUD INSTEAD MOMO LADY? IS THIS BETTER?"

Now everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing and set their stunned eyes on the tiny boy. Momo's hand flew to her mouth, the only thing she could do to stop herself from bursting with laughter.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" Sousuke yelled.

Her barely repressed laughter made Momo's voice squeak when she answered. "It's nothing. You don't have to be loud. Actually, you're supposed… hehe… you're supposed to be quiet in the library. I was just surprised that you were being quiet without me having to tell you. Please, be quieter again. Everyone is staring at us."

"Oh," Sousuke said, in a soft voice once again. "Are you mad at me?"

Momo noticed that his face had turned slightly pink and she became more serious. "Of course not," she said. "You didn't know how to act in a library. I should have told you earlier."

A trace of a smile reassured her that Sousuke's feelings were not seriously hurt. _He's definitely one of a kind. I really don't know if I can help him become the kind of man he was when he was my Captain, though._

He stayed right next to her as she pored over the shelves, looking for something good. He didn't seem to have any interest in any of the titles she read aloud, replying to each with a noncommittal grunt. "The Swan Princess? The Princess and the Goblin? The Princess and the Pea?"

"Are all these books about dumb princesses?" he finally blurted out.

"Not all of them," she said. "I'll try to find something…"

"How 'bout this one?" Sousuke interrupted, his nimble hands already tugging a bulky leather-bound volume from the lowest shelf. When he at last pulled it loose, the weight of it made his entire body sag, his arms barely strong enough to hold it.

Momo immediately came to his rescue, taking the book from his hands and reading out the title. "Cinderella?"

"There's no princesses in that one, is there?" he asked.

"Um… no," she replied. "No princesses." Sousuke had actually found a book he wanted to read and she was not going to ruin it by admitting that the title character becomes a princess at the end and lives happily ever after.

Cinderella in hand, she ushered Sousuke over to a cozy, unoccupied nook and sat down on one of the large, lumpy cushions that was strewn on the floor. "Do you want to sit on my lap?" she asked.

"Eww, no!" the boy retorted. "Why would I wanna do that?"

"So you can see the pictures," she chirped.

With a resigning sigh, Sousuke slunk over and plopped down in Momo's lap. Then she opened up the book and began to read. "Once upon a time, there was a young girl who had a stepmother and two stepsisters who were very mean to her…"

Sousuke remained remarkably quiet during the entire story, up through the very last line. "Reunited at last, Cinderella and the Prince were married and they lived together in the castle and were very happy for the rest of their lives. The End."

Momo smiled proudly in the moment of silence that followed, very pleased that Sousuke had enjoyed the story. That moment was brief, however, as a whiny voice of protest soon shattered her victory.

"That's it?" he snorted. "She just marries the stupid Prince and nothing else happens?"

"I'm sure other stuff happened," Momo tried to explain. "But it wasn't the sort of things that would be in a story. Cinderella and the Prince were happy after that and did happy things."

"What about her friends?" Sousuke asked urgently. "What happened to them?"

"You mean the mice?"

"Yeah," he continued. "You said that Cinderella's only friends were the mice that lived in the house, but she didn't take them with her when she moved into the castle. She just left them behind."

"I'm sure they were okay on their own," Momo answered, baffled that Sousuke was getting so upset over such an insignificant detail.

His response that followed was even more fervent than before. "What if they weren't? What if they got eaten by a cat? Or some bigger, meaner mice were bad to them and hurt them? Cinderella was a… a jerk! And a bad friend!"

"It's just a story," Momo said. "It didn't actually happen."

"It's a bad story!" Sousuke grunted as he hopped from her lap, tightening his hands into little fists. "I don't like it!"

Momo could hear the hot air steaming from the little boy's nostrils but she remained completely calm, hoping she might have a pacifying effect of him. "Why don't we find something else, then? Something you'll really like." She stood up and walked back over to the shelves, searched for a few minutes, and then pulled out a book. "I always liked this one, Peter Pan. It's about a boy who never grows up."

Sousuke's tensed posture eased and his lips curled up in a small smile. "That might be good."

They went back to their cozy nook and this time Sousuke snuggled into Momo's lap without needing an invitation. He liked this story, laughing at parts he thought were funny and asking questions at parts he didn't quite understand. It made Momo happy and helped her to stop worrying about his overblown reaction to Cinderella. After a couple of chapters, though, his comments tapered off and eventually stopped all together. Momo paused in her reading.

"Sousuke?" she whispered, but there was no reply. "Sousuke?"

He had fallen asleep.

With as little noise and as little movement as possible, Momo tucked Peter Pan into her bag so they could finish it at home. Then she carefully picked up Sousuke, holding him against her chest and letting his head rest on her shoulder. He gave a tiny whimper in his sleep and wrapped his arms around her neck before settling down again.

_My Sousuke… No wonder you're so tired, you didn't sleep very well at all last night. Go ahead and get all the rest you need. I'm going to do everything I can to make things better for you. I don't care if you never become the Captain Aizen I remember, I just want you to be happy._

Since she was already in the library, and the little guy was sleeping, Momo decided to take advantage of some of the library's more exclusive resources. It was a long shot to think she'd find anything significant with only the rather common girl's name, Masaki, as a lead. But if there was a chance it could help Sousuke reconcile his past, she was at least going to try.

The Soul Society records, accessible only to division officers, were located on the third floor. During her ascent up the stairs, Momo was so focused on not dropping Sousuke that she didn't notice the beautiful woman waving to her from the landing and walked right past.

"Momo," the woman called.

"Rangiku?" Momo replied, coming to a stop when she recognized the voice of her friend. She turned around, and with careful little steps, walked back over to the well-endowed blonde who was still smiling at her. "What are you doing here in the library?" she asked.

"Oh, just some routine research," the older woman answered. "It's nice running into you two, though. Aww, he looks so cute sleeping like that…"

"He's very well behaved when he's asleep," Momo said, chuckling slightly. For a brief second, she paused, and when she continued talking her tone was more thoughtful. "Hey, I'm actually glad I ran into you, Rangiku. I've been thinking things over … It's such a miracle that Soul Society let Sousuke live. Everyone deserves a second chance. And if my testimony can help Ichimaru to have another chance just like Sousuke, then I will do it. I'll testify at his trial."

Ran's blue eyes lit up. "You will? Really? I… I'm not sure what to say… Thank you!"

"It's no problem," Momo said. "I can't promise that this guy will be a perfect angel, but we'll do our best."

"Just the fact that you'll be there is enough for me," Rangiku said, looking almost as if she might start crying. "Come by the courtroom tomorrow and we can arrange the details. The trial isn't until next week, of course, but this will get things all set up so there are no complications."

"Alright," Momo said. "We'll see you there tomorrow. Goodbye, Rangiku."

Wearing a grateful smile, the blonde spread her arms and moved to hug her young friend, but she hesitated for a moment. "I don't want to wake the little guy up…"

"I think he's out pretty cold," the younger woman assured. If he slept through clomping up the stairs, I don't think a hug will wake him."

Miss Matsumoto went ahead, wrapped her arms around the pair and squeezed very lightly. Momo didn't miss the fact that Sousuke's sleeping lips curved into a smile while Rangiku's breasts were pressed against him.

"Goodbye," Ran said when she released the embrace. "And good luck to both of you… You know I mean it."

Momo nodded. "I know." Then she watched as the pretty shinigami vanished back into the dense forest of bookshelves. She felt glad that she had arranged things with Matsumoto. Ichimaru was definitely not Momo's favorite person, but she knew that most shinigami felt even more negative towards Sousuke. Rangiku was so sweet, though, Momo had no doubts that she could transform Gin into someone who wasn't scary at all.

After the encounter, it took Momo a moment to remember what she had been doing before. _Where was I going? Oh right, the records room… to look up 'Masaki.' It probably won't turn up anything. After all, the records are mostly just of events within Soul Society… no personal histories. Eh… my arms are getting tired. This kid is heavier than he looks. Maybe I should just go home and come back another day…_

The thought was physically interrupted when Momo's shoulder collided with something hard and she almost fell over backwards. Immediately, she looked down to make sure that Sousuke was safe and still sleeping. He didn't even stir. She had been thinking as she was walking, not paying nearly enough attention to where she was going, so the crash was entirely her fault. Still, she was hoping that nobody saw the embarrassing accident. That was impossible, she soon realized, because the thing she had run into was another shinigami.

"I'm so sorry," she said humbly, bowing as far as she could with the child in her arms. When she looked up, however, she was surprised by the face that greeted her. It was the face of another friend, a tall, strapping young man sporting a scarlet ponytail and elaborately tattooed eyebrows.

"No need to apologize, Momo," he said in his typically gruff, but friendly tone. "It was an accident… didn't even hurt. And you've clearly got your hands full."

"I still should have been more careful," she replied.

Renji shrugged his muscular shoulders apathetically. "Meh. So, how are things working out with the little tyrant?"

"We're doing well," Momo answered. "Just came her today to read some stories." She wasn't entirely sure what to say. While Renji referring to Sousuke as a tyrant was probably meant as a joke, she really wasn't certain what his real feelings were about Aizen or the verdict. Renji didn't have any reason to be sympathetic, like Rangiku did.

Momo was about to fill the awkward pause by asking her friend how he had been lately when a small young woman pushed rudely in front of him, a disapproving look in her dark eyes.

"So this is where you wandered off to," she grumbled. "Trying to get out of helping me with the work, eh? Oh… Vice Captain Hinamori, I didn't see you there… and you've got that child with you."

"Hi Miss Kuchiki," Momo said, inexplicably nervous. "I'm sorry to have kept Renji away from his work. I just accidentally bumped into him."

Rukia's expression became gentler. "Ah, he was shirking long before he ran into you. Now come on, Renji, no more goofing off." She grabbed her companion by the arm and flashed Momo a quick smile before she began to drag the boy away.

"Wait," Renji called, not to Rukia but to Momo. His captor paused so he could finish what he had to say. "You two are okay, right? Nobody's been giving you a hard time?"

"We're doing okay," she answered. "Actually, only one person has attempted any violence against us. I think people are probably starting to calm down about the whole thing, looking at it more rationally."

"I hope you're right," Renji said, still sounding concerned. "But if anyone tries to hurt you, you just tell me, okay? And if you need any help with anything, you know who your friends are."

Momo sighed wistfully and looked at Sousuke. "Thanks, Renji, but I think we're good for now… Unless you happen to know anything about a girl named Masaki. Well, I guess she's probably a grown woman now if it's a name little Sousuke knows…"

"Nope, never heard…" Renji began to answer, but Rukia interrupted him with a gasp.

"Masaki? Did you say Masaki?" Momo nodded and she continued. "And this is a name that Aizen has mentioned since he's been with you? What did he say about her?"

"He said it in his sleep last night," Momo answered, stunned by Rukia's reaction. "When I asked him about it, he told me he never said it. But I think she's somebody that he knows, someone close. Why? Have you heard that name before?"

Rukia's face was as serious as ever when she answered. "Masaki was the name of Ichigo's mother who died when he was a child."

"Are you sure?" Momo breathed.

"Yes definitely," Rukia answered. "Her name was Masaki."

"Ah, but what're the odds it's the same Masaki?" Renji interjected. "It's probably just a coincidence. You two are getting way too worked up about this."

"It might be a coincidence," Rukia said seriously. "But it might not be. There is one person who would know, though, Ichigo's father, Kurosaki Isshin."

"Kurosaki's father?" Momo asked.

Rukia gave a single nod. "I think I could probably arrange a meeting for you to talk to him."

"Really?" Momo inquired. "I would really appreciate it if you did. Um, I can't go tomorrow, though. I have some business to take care of at the courthouse to take care of. But anything after that… I can't believe you'd really help me like this… Miss Kuchiki, why?"

"Anything that might involve Ichigo involves me as well," she said gravely. "If Aizen has any connection to the Kurosaki family, I'm as eager to know about it as you are. I will contact you within the next few days with the details."

"Yes, yes," Momo said, her voice had become as serious as Rukia's. "I'd shake your hands if my arms weren't full. Take care. Oh, and say hello to Izuru for me, Renji."

Renji and Rukia left the scene and Momo stood there, her heartbeat fast and excited._ Wow, what if Sousuke's Masaki is really Kurosaki Ichigo's mother? It's unlikely, but… This story might go deeper than I ever thought. It could be something huge. This is so… so… What's that? Something warm against my belly, and wet…?_

Any attempts by the young woman to grasp the possible depth of the situation were suddenly abandoned. She didn't have to move the boy to see the large wet spot spreading over the side of her clothing. The front of his kimono was soaked as well. "Oh, Sousuke," she sighed. "You're only a little kid after all. I guess this means another bath."

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

Free Talk- I'm so happy that I was able to finish another chapter even with all of the end of semester school stuff currently making my life rather unpleasant. So far this story has been very focused on establishing a connection between Momo and Sousuke and very heavy on thoughts and feelings and dreams and stuff. That's why I am so worried about it being too boring. Please, tell me if it starts to go in that direction. I won't be offended. Actually, by the end of this chapter I think things are starting to move in a more exciting direction. I hope people like it. Thank you so much for all the wonderful support. Please tell me what you think!**  
**

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Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 7: Preparing For the Next Task

* * *

Little fingers carved a delicate pattern of ripples in the clouds as Sousuke soared through the blue sky. Far below, his shadow dashed over the green landscape, over trees and meadows and mountains. He took in a deep breath of delicious air and released it as a roar of delight. Nothing before had ever felt as good as this did, to be so light and buoyant and free. A ribbon of blue cut through the countryside below, a river, and he decided to follow it, all the way out to where it emptied into a dark blue bay. There, bobbing in the gentle waves was a huge galleon with black sails, the largest of which was emblazoned with a white skull. 

"Oh boy! Pirates!" Sousuke exclaimed jubilantly. Then he took a spiraling dive downward to get a closer look.

The deck was swarming with all sorts of scallywags and vermin, strange men and women dressed in colorful pirate rags, all of them seemingly oblivious to the little boy hovering above their heads. They were all too excited about something else and Sousuke could hear snatches of their conversation as they began to migrate to one side of the ship.

"Ol' hook caught himself a real purty one. Gonna make 'er walk the plank. Think he'll 'ave his way with 'er first? Naw, this one's goin' straight down to sleep with the fishes."

Sousuke gasped. _They're gonna make a girl walk the plank? What could she have done? I gotta see this!_ He quietly flew after the crowd of pirates, high enough so that he had a clear view, but staying in the back so that nobody would notice him. A young woman emerged at the front of the pack, prodded along by the sharp end of a pirate grunt's blade, a sack over her head concealing her identity. She looked young, though, and was dressed in just a nightgown. The crowd began to grow loud and restless.

"Shaddup an' make way for the Captain!" the grunt hollered, quieting them somewhat.

The young boy watched in awe as a man appeared, seemingly out of thin air, dressed in the finest, most noble pirate attire, a stark contrast to his crew. A large black hat made it impossible for Sousuke to see his face, but it was quite visible that one of his hands was a metal hook and the other was clutching a long, glistening sword. This was not a man to be messed with.

"And so we come to the moment of yer death," he purred, circling his captive slyly. He paused for a moment and then yanked the bag from the girl's head. "Are ye ready to walk the plank?"

The girl said something, but Sousuke didn't hear what it was. He was completely entranced by the wavy brown hair that had spilled out around the girl's shoulders. "Masaki," he breathed.

For a moment he was stuck in place, suspended in midair as the captain shoved the young girl unceremoniously out onto the wooden plank. She was already almost to the edge when Sousuke's initial shock wore off enough to let his body move. He zoomed, full-speed, to the end of the plank and stopped with arms outstretched in front of the girl.

"Don't let 'em do this, Masa… You're not Masaki!" He had to stop and rub his eyes to make sure they weren't damaged. Up close, the girl's face was clearly not his sister's, but still one that he recognized. Her hair wasn't even wavy brown, but black and straight. "Momo! Yer not really gonna walk the plank are you? Ya gotta get away! We gotta get out of here!"

"Outta the way, brat!" the captain growled. The wide brim of the man's hat cast a dark shadow over his face. Even this close, all Sousuke could see was a sadistic grin that was all teeth, sharp and white. The tip of the pirate's sword was pressed into Momo's back forcing her so far to the edge of the plank that her toes curled around the end.

Momo's eyes, normally bright and hopeful, now looked unbearably sad. Sousuke almost had to look away. She tilted her head gently to the side and spoke softly. "I'm so sorry, Sousuke."

Before the baffled boy could react, Momo had stepped off the end of the plank and was plummeting head first towards the salty water. The pirate captain was laughing gleefully, sunlight reflecting off of his vicious fangs. "Nothin' ye can do now, boy!"

"Noooooo! Momo!" Sousuke shouted, diving down after her. Somehow he was able to out fly gravity and he caught the girl by the shoulders before she hit the water. But she proved to be too heavy for the small boy and both of them were pulled down and plunged into the sea.

The water was surprisingly warm, covering Sousuke like a blanket and preventing him from breathing. "Help!" he tried to yell, but all that came from his mouth was a stream of bubbles. On the verge of drowning, he thrashed around, groping for Momo, but she was nowhere around. It wasn't until he could barely hold his breath any longer that he felt a pair of hands around his waist, yanking him upwards.

Sousuke's eyes shot open, revealing a steamy, tiled interior.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," a sweet voice said. It was Momo.

"Whurz za pirates?" he asked groggily.

"No pirates," Momo giggled. "You must have been having quite a dream."

"A dream…" Sousuke echoed. His senses were returning to him very quickly now, and he was suddenly aware of where he was. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "We're back in the bath! An' I'm nekkid! You said no bath today Momo lady!"

His caretaker just rolled her eyes. "The bath is already over. You slept through the whole thing. I'm just drying you off now so we can go home."

Sousuke pouted. "It was still pretty sneaky of you," he huffed. "But at least you didn't try an' shampoop my hair again. So let's go already. And…" For some reason he felt embarrassed about what he was about to ask her. "When we get home, can you read the rest of Peter Pan?"

"Of course," Momo answered.

Back in the warmth of Momo's apartment, in the softness of her lap, Sousuke listened to her read out loud to him. He liked the story, but he was finding it hard to concentrate. When Momo read a scene with Captain Hook brandishing his sword, a hideous grin of sharp white teeth invaded Sousuke imagination and all he could see was that pirate from his dream. By the time he got the image out of his head, he'd missed the rest of the scene and was completely lost. Now Wendy was in trouble, and once again his brain strayed back to that dream.

_Why was it Momo who had to walk the plank? It shoulda been Masaki. 'Saki is the one who's in danger, the one I hafta save. Stupid dream makes no sense! Hnnn… but the guy that stabbed Momo is still out there. Maybe she is in danger… Oh, but that's got nothin' to do with me! Masaki is the only one I care about… even if she did leave me all alone on the streets… Stupid dream… Stupid!_

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice at first when Momo stopped reading the story. It took a warm arm around his torso and a gentle question spoken into his ear to snap him back to reality. "Sousuke? You're fidgeting an awful lot. Are you okay?"

A strange heat pooled in Sousuke's stomach, a sensation he couldn't understand and therefore didn't like. "Of course I'm okay!" he declared roughly, scrambling out of Momo's lap and staring her down. "You don't… you don't need ta always ask me stuff, Momo lady! Whudda you care anyways?"

Momo tilted her head and just looked at him, increasing the discomfort in his belly. Every time she looked at him tenderly, every time she did something or said something that showed that she cared about him, Sousuke felt funny inside. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, though. There was a certain sweetness before the feeling became sharp, like a candy with a wasabi center.

"Why do you hafta look at me like that?" he asked, sounding much more anxious than he had intended to.

"I just like you," Momo answered with a shrug and a smile. "That's why I chose to bring you into my home and take care of you."

Sousuke suddenly thought of question he hadn't asked her yet. "So how long are you gonna keep me here?"

"As long as you will stay with me," she said. "You can stay forever if you want."

Again, Sousuke could taste the wasabi candy on his tongue and was more than grateful that it was dinnertime and he could soon cover it up with Momo's cooking.

He'd watched her cook a few times already, and he actually enjoyed it a lot. Tonight she even asked him to help her by tipping her chopped up beef and onion into the cooking pan. It felt great to help. When the two of them sat down to eat their beef meal, he couldn't help but think that one of the reasons it tasted so good was the way he'd added the ingredients.

"You're a very good helper, Sousuke," Momo told him between two bites.

"Cooking is fun!" he replied cheerfully, his earlier concerns pushed out of mind.

"If you want something to drink, you'd better have it now," she added cautiously. "We're not going to be having any liquids past eight in the evening. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you, tomorrow we have to go to the courthouse to run a quick errand."

"What kind of errand?" the boy snorted. He'd complain about the drink thing later.

"We have to tell the folks at the courthouse that we are going to speak there next week," she explained. "It's a favor to Miss Matsumoto. Her friend Ichimaru is in trouble and you and I might be able to make his punishment less bad."

Sousuke scrunched his face in thought. "Matsumoto the one with the big milk jugs?"

For a moment, it looked like Momo was biting her lip to stop herself from laughing, or possibly yelling. "Yes, she is the one you met at the bath house," she said.

"Oh," Sousuke replied. "Well… is this Itchy-maru guy really bad? Maybe he should get punished real bad."

"He's bad," Momo sighed. "But he's not the worst… and he doesn't deserve to die. Nobody deserves that. Now, let's get our pajamas on and go finish our book."

"Okay," he said, standing up from the table and pausing briefly. "Itchy-maru… he's not the guy that stabbed you, right?"

Momo shook her head. "No, that was somebody else."

Hearing this eased Sousuke's mind and he was able to get all into the story without worrying about going to the courthouse tomorrow or the weird sensation he got from all of Momo's affection. When the story ended, however, and he was snuggled up close to her in bed, he didn't feel as peaceful. Despite the calming sounds of Momo's breathing, Sousuke found it very hard to get to sleep. He was thirsty, for one thing, and had no idea why Momo had decided to ban drinks before bed. More than that, though, he had somehow returned to thinking about Masaki.

_Now that I'm living in Soul Society I gotta figure out how to find 'Saki… gotta find her and tell her what the fortune guy said about her future. Hmm… Maybe when I tell her, her new family will think I'm a good boy let me stay with her. That is… unless she left me because she really doesn't want me… No! No! Sis wouldn't do that! We'll be together again! And I guess… I guess that means I'll hafta leave Momo…_

A sick feeling suddenly swept over the little boy and without thinking he pulled himself more closely to the sleeping young women whose bed he shared. He'd never clung so tightly to his sister when they used to sleep in a similar fashion.

_Maybe I could go see Masaki and then come back and stay here with Momo…_

This was the thought that finally let him sleep serenely.

* * *

The alarm clock failed to go off at seven, and both Momo and Sousuke slept well into the morning. When the boy finally woke up and nudged his bedmate awake, she immediately flew into a tizzy, rushing to get both of them dressed and fed and out the door. 

"We're late! We're late!" she squeaked as she frantically threw off her sleepwear and tugged on her shinigami uniform. She was clearly too frenzied to care about changing in front of Sousuke, and he got to catch a glimpse of her pale skin and even saw her scar. Then she turned her attention to him, changing him with unprecedented speed.

"Whuh…? Why are you all panicky?" he asked, just as she was pulling his sash just a little too tight. "Ow!" he winced.

"Sorry," Momo sighed, a bit calmer. "I just really want to get to the courthouse as soon as possible. They start business really early. I want to make sure we don't get there too late."

"So I guess we don't get a big breakfast?" Sousuke asked, a bit disappointed.

"Just toast today," she replied. "But I'll make up for it at lunch."

The toast was a kind of dry, but not entirely bad. Sousuke had to eat his second slice while walking, as Momo had ushered him out the door before he could finish. Apparently it wasn't that far to the courthouse, because by the time he swallowed the last bite of toast they were already at the front entrance. It reminded him of the day he came home with Momo. It had really happened just earlier that week, but it felt like so much longer.

She squeezed his hand as they walked through the massive doors and into the building. There wasn't a crowd inside, just a few shinigami going about their business, shuffling through the hallways and paying very little attention to the duo that had just entered. Only one person there seemed to have noticed them at all, a familiar, large-breasted woman.

"You made it," Rangiku greeted with a broad smile. "Follow me, I'll take you to the room where the other defense witnesses are being briefed."

Momo immediately followed after the other woman, not even glancing down at Sousuke before dragging him by the hand. He frowned slightly, not because his short legs had a difficult time keeping up, but because of another unpleasant realization. They'd left so quickly that he didn't have time to have a drink, and the dry toast had left his mouth especially parched. He didn't have a chance to say anything, however, until he and Momo made it to their destined room and came to a stop.

"Momo," he said urgently, tugging on the side of her black pants. "I'm thirsty. I need a drink of water."

She had been talking to Miss Matsumoto, but stopped to gently hush him. "Not now, Sousuke. I have to talk to some people here first. Then we can go get a drink from the water fountain."

"But it's an emergency!" he whined. "I haven't had anything to drink since dinner last night 'cause of your stupid rule! Can't I just go on my own?"

"It's not safe to wander around alone," Momo said. "Just stay here with me. It won't take that long."

"Not safe…" Sousuke snorted. "You know, I'm not a little baby, Momo! I don't need you to hold my hand just ta get a drink of water! In fact… I don't wanna hold your hand at all!"

"You don't have to hold my hand," she replied calmly. "Just stand next to me and try not to think about water. Hang in there, sweetie."

Sousuke let go of Momo's hand and folded his arms across his chest in frustration. _Hmph… Hang in there? Sweetie? This court stuff's got Momo all worked up and actin' funny. Now she's talking to some serious-looking dude. She prolly wouldn't even notice if I went out to the water fountain an' came right back._

A smile of inspiration curled onto the little boy's lips. While Momo was deeply engaged in conversation with Matsumoto and the serious shinigami, he quietly tiptoed out of the room. As soon as he was safely out in the hallway, the thrill of success filled his chest.

_Now where did I see that water fountain?_

He vaguely recalled having seen one at some point on the walk through the building but he couldn't remember where. He couldn't even really remember which direction they had come in from, so he wandered through the hallways, somewhat aimlessly, searching for a drink. Then he spotted it. It even had a set of wooden stairs in front of it so that someone of his height could reach.

He ran over with reckless abandon, eager to quench the desert in his mouth. But he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him and wound up plowing into another thirsty person who had reached the fountain first. The collision knocked him back on his bottom.

"Sorry," he mumbled without looking up. For some reason he always felt awkward apologizing.

"Think nothing of it, Aizen Sousuke," a slippery voice replied.

The fallen boy's eyes darted upward. The young man who he had bumped into, who somehow knew his name, was not dressed in a shinigami uniform but a plain white kimono. Silver hair hung down across his forehead above two sinister slits for eyes and his mouth was curved into a devious grin.

"You… know my name," Sousuke breathed. "Who are you?"

The strange man didn't answer but gave a little hiss of a laugh. Now, for the first time, Sousuke noticed that this man's hands were bound behind his back. There was a thick collar around his neck and twin leashes attached. These were being held by two tough-looking shinigami who were busy talking with each other a few feet away.

"So… you're a prisoner?" the child asked. "Hey, I know who you are! You're Big Boobs' friend, Itchy-maru, aren't you?"

"Ah, I see you've got my number down," Ichimaru said. "You're quite a bright boy, Aizen Sousuke."

Sousuke furrowed his eyebrows suspiciously. "You never answered me about how you know my name."

The prisoner's eyes opened just a tiny crack, revealing two thin slivers of red iris as he spoke. "Oh I know more than just your name, Aizen Sousuke. It's not really important how I know… but I do know."

"Someone musta told you my name," Sousuke said skeptically. "You don't know nuthin.' Yer just trying to scare me 'cause yer a weirdo. I'm gonna find a different water fountain."

He turned around and took the first two steps in the other direction, fighting furiously against his curiosity. Ichimaru's response, however, stopped him in his tracks.

"I know there is somebody who has been waiting to see you, Aizen Sousuke. She's all alone and scared, but I know where she is."

_Masaki!_

Sousuke spun around to face Ichimaru again. "Who! Who is waiting!" he demanded. "Is it…?"

"It's someone very close to you," the sly one answered. "And that's all I'll tell you."

"Where is she?" the boy stammered.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't tell you that," said Ichimaru. "Unless…"

"Unless what? Unless what?"

"Unless you help me," the prisoner answered. "As you can see, I am not a free man right now. But you're such a resourceful boy. I'm sure you could think of a way to give me back my freedom, Aizen Sousuke."

"But you're a bad guy," Sousuke said. "You gotta have your trial next week and they'll tell you how your gonna get punished. At least that's what Momo said."

At this, Ichimaru began shaking with laughter. "Oh yes, I almost forgot about your sweet little babysitter, Momo. She told you I was a bad guy?"

"Well, she said you're not the worst," the boy said.

"And she's right about that," said Ichimaru. "I'm barely a criminal at all, and yet they plan to punish me severely, when much worse souls get off so easy."

Sousuke wrinkled his nose. "That's not fair."

"Not fair at all. But you can help me, Sousuke. If you help free me, I promise that I will reunite you with _her_."

"I… I dunno…" Sousuke agonized. The offer had come so suddenly and so unexpectedly that his brain hadn't fully processed it all yet. He glanced quickly at the two guards, but they were still occupied and oblivious.

"You don't have to decide right now," Ichimaru assured. "There is still a week before I must be put on trial. But please, do think about. She misses you so badly, Aizen Sousuke. And remember, they're keeping me in the white tower on the hill."

Then Ichimaru smiled very wide and Sousuke noticed just how creepy a grin it was. It wasn't as bad as the hook-handed pirate in his dream, though. This guy's smile was more like a sly fox, not as sharp and not as toothy.

"Sousuke! Sousuke!"

He could hear his name being called from somewhere nearby and growing closer. It was Momo's voice. A moment later, he was hoisted up from behind and being held tightly in her arms. "There you are!" she exclaimed. "I was so worried about you! I'm so sorry, Sousuke! I'm so sorry I wasn't paying closer attention to you!"

I ran away from her and she's apologizing to me? That's strange… Whoa, she looks terrified! Was she really that scared?

Sousuke watched Momo's face as it turned from concern, looking down at him, to furious, glaring over at Ichimaru. "What did you do to him? What did you say to him?"

"Nothing," Ichimaru answered smoothly. "We were just having a friendly chat." By now all the commotion had brought his guards over and they were beginning to yank him away roughly.

Momo turned her attention back to Sousuke in her arms. "What did that man tell you?"

"It was really nothing," he lied. "He just wanted to know who I was."

Momo hugged him tighter and whispered into his ear. "Listen to me, Sousuke. That man… he's very sneaky, and he tells lies. Anything he might have told you, just ignore it. Don't listen to him. Okay?"

"Okay?" he said softly.

"Good," Momo said. "Now, let's get that drink and go on home."

She held him up to the water fountain, and pressed the lever while he took in several cold mouthfuls. It satisfied his thirst, but did nothing for his troubled mind.

_I'm sorry, Momo, but I have to find Masaki… And Itchy-maru is the one who can help me do that. I've got to help him escape._

To be continued…


	8. Chapter 8

Free Talk- Chapter 8 is a long one, longer than I had anticipated. I suppose I could have split it up into two, but I wanted to advance the plot more. I hope it's not too long or too boring. It's a Momo-centric episode, but I think Sousuke is going to get the next two, so it will balance out. I'm posting this from my family's PC because the internet is down on my Mac. Still, I'm just glad to be able to update. Thank you all so much for the support and comments. They make me feel so grateful. Oh, and don't jump to conclusions about Gin's motives yet. They may not be what you think. On a final note, I have at last finished college... Now I need to find a job... Enjoy the chapter! Please tell me what you think!**  
**

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 8: Keeping Appointments

* * *

Momo didn't realize just how tightly she was holding little Sousuke until he let out a yelp of protest. "Ow! Dumb Momo! Not so squeezey!" 

"I'm so sorry," she said, loosening her arms from around the small boy. They had almost completed the journey back to Momo's apartment from the courthouse, though she wasn't even sure how. Up until just moments ago, her mind had been completely lost in worry. What could Ichimaru Gin have said to Sousuke? She wanted to believe it was just harmless small talk, but her fear and her distrust of the silver-haired shinigami wouldn't allow it.

"Uh… Momo?" Sousuke asked, his voice much less whiney than before, concerned even. "Are you okay? Yer acting kinda… floaty."

She stopped walking and shifted the kid so she could look at his face. "Floaty? Why do you say that?"

"I dunno," he answered with a shrug. "Cuz you walked right past your own house."

* * *

After backtracking in order to get home, Momo and Sousuke spent the rest of the day in unusual and unsettling quiet. Back in the coziness of the apartment, the boy's behavior changed and it became quite clear to Momo that she wasn't the only one who was floaty tonight. Not a whine, not a request, not a single snide remark escaped Sousuke's little lips all afternoon, and it made Momo even more anxious about whatever Gin had said. By dinnertime, she'd decided to ask him about it one more time, even though she knew it would annoy him. 

"Sousuke," she said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them as they ate. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me what Ichimaru said to you."

"I did tell you!" he huffed angrily. "He just asked my name an' wanted to know what a kid was doing at the courthouse. Why don't you believe me, Momo?"

Momo sighed. "I do believe you." She really wasn't sure she did believe him, but she didn't want her doubt to show. "I just wanted to make sure one more time."

"Whatever, Momo lady," he said. "I dunno what you're so suspicious about, though. Why would Itchy-maru wanna say somethin' mean to some kid he's never met? 'Specially if he's not a really bad guy…"

"You're right," she assured, though the lie made her chest feel tight and uncomfortable. "I'll try to trust you more, Sousuke. I know you would never lie to me." She watched the boy closely for any reaction to her carefully constructed sentence. He shifted in his spot, seemingly nervous, but it may just have been because she was staring at him.

"Uh… of course I wouldn' lie you," he said. "Never ever, ever."

Momo opened her mouth to reply before she had thought of what should come out. It was pure luck that a loud knocking at the door excused her from actually having to say something. She gratefully got up to go answer it while Sousuke looked on curiously. Upon sliding the door open, Momo found herself facing two friends.

"Renji, Rukia… Hello," she greeted.

"Yo," Renji said with a grin. Rukia just nodded politely.

"Would you like to come in?" Momo asked.

Rukia produced a small but graceful smile that suited her perfectly. "That's alright, Vice Captain Hinamori. We won't be but a few minutes."

"Oh, okay," Momo replied. She couldn't help but notice Rukia's eyes dart towards the interior of the apartment, towards the little boy still at the kitchen table eating dinner. It was just a brief gaze, but Momo could tell that it was not a sympathetic one. "So, what can I help you with?" she continued cautiously.

"I have spoken to Kurosaki Isshin," Rukia said. "And he would like very much to have a meeting with you. I have gone ahead and made arrangements with Soul Society for you to visit the Human World tomorrow evening. Is that alright?"

"I… that's fine," Momo uttered. "Wow, thanks. I didn't expect you to go out of your way and make all of the arrangements… and so quickly."

"No problem," said Rukia. "I am actually quite intrigued with this development myself. I was hoping to accompany you, that is, if you don't mind."

"Of course not," Momo answered. "Oh wait! What about Sousuke? I can't just leave him. He's just a little kid and he's still settling in to his new home. I feel terrible turning down your very generous offer but…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Renji interrupted her. "Don't sweat it, Momo. That's where I come in. You an' Rukia won't be gone longer than a few hours, so I'll watch the little ankle-biter for you."

"Are you sure you want to do it, Renji?" Momo asked with concern. "He's a bit of a handful."

"Aw, how bad can he possibly be?" the redhead responded. "It'll only be for a few hours. And it'll be at night. Heh, the little guy'll probably be asleep."

These two really did have everything planned out, and Momo couldn't refuse such a perfect opportunity to possibly learn more about Sousuke's past. "I guess that's that," she said. "Tomorrow night, then?"

"Tomorrow night," Rukia answered with another polite nod. "Renji and I will arrive here at eight. Now, please excuse us as we have work to get to."

Renji added a friendly wave as the duo left and Momo slid the door closed once again. For a few minutes she just stood there, contemplating the plans she had made. It wasn't until she felt a small tug on her sleeve that she realized she was loitering.

'Momo, who were those guys?" Sousuke asked eagerly. "What did they want?"

She looked down at the boy, trying to decide how much to tell him at this point, but the fact that there was rice stuck all around his mouth distracted her by making her want to laugh. "Um… heheh… that is… Here, let me wipe your face off first." Without a handkerchief on hand, she improvised and used her sleeve. "You sure are a messy eater, Sousuke."

"What about those guys?" he asked impatiently.

"Oh, those were just some friends of mine that came to say hi and ask about an errand. You don't have to worry about it. Now, let's go get our pajamas on. I've got another story for us to start reading called Robin Hood."

Sousuke loved the first two chapters of the book, which reassured Momo that her instincts about his tastes were right on. His types of stories were those filled with action, where the hero broke the rules a little. After story time, however, when boy and young woman were under the covers in bed, Sousuke obviously wasn't enjoying himself. He tossed and twisted and flailed and squirmed until Momo couldn't ignore it any longer.

"What's wrong?" she whispered. "Something troubling you?"

"I just can't get sleepy," he huffed, flipping over onto his other side and then quickly flipping back.

"Can't get sleepy, eh? I think I know something that might help. Come with me." With this offer, Momo got up and led Sousuke by the hand out into the kitchen. She got two glasses from the cabinet and filled them with water. Then she opened cupboard and retrieved a little green jar.

"This is my secret ingredient," she told the boy. "Just one little spoon of it in your drink and you'll be blissfully asleep in minutes."

Sousuke looked at her incredulously. "You're drugging me? An' what about your rule that we can't drink after dinner?"

"Just this once, we'll have to break the rule," she answered, smiling. "And it's not really a drug. It's completely herbal. A little bit is all you need, though. If you add too much you'll sleep all day."

She added a spoonful to one of the cups and handed it to Sousuke, who eyed it suspiciously for a long moment before finally downing it with one long gulp. While he drank, Momo stirred a dash of powder into her own cup. It was just to take the edge off of her anxiety over Ichimaru and the impending meeting with Mr. Kurosaki.

"Momo, I'm still not sleepy!" Sousuke rudely informed.

"It takes a few minutes to start working," she said. "Here, I'll carry you back to bed, and I bet you'll feel sleepy by the time we get there."

Momo was surprised by how cooperative the boy was, letting her scoop him up without objection. Gently, she rocked him back and forth as she took tiny steps towards the bedroom, humming a tune that she had heard somewhere before. It wasn't until she was a few bars in that she remembered it as the song Captain Aizen would sing softly to himself when he got so immersed in his work that he forgot his Vice Captain was still with him. As the words came back to her, she began to sing them, and after just the first line, Sousuke's whole body stiffened in her arms.

"That song!" he exclaimed. "That's the song my… I mean… I know that song, too! I heard it before!"

"Oh?" Momo asked, looking down at his baffled face. "Is it a song that you like?"

A small, wistful smile spread on the boy's lips. "It's my favorite."

"I like it a lot, too," Momo told him, arms squeezing slightly. Then she sang the rest, continuing to rock him even after they were back in the bedroom and she was sitting on her mattress. Sousuke was asleep by the end of the song and she was starting to feel the effects of the herb for herself. So she snuggled into bed and pulled the covers up over the both of them. As she was falling asleep, she imagined her fully grown Captain singing to her, holding her in his arms even as hers still cradled his childhood self.

* * *

The next day, Momo tried to pack in as much fun for Sousuke as she possibly could before telling him about having to have a babysitter that evening. She had a strong hunch that he would not like the idea and was trying to put it off until right before she left. Unfortunately, the boy was due for another bath, which they got out of the way right after breakfast. This time around, he was a bit more cooperative, coaxed by the promise of getting new toys. 

They did go shopping for toys, but the only thing there that Sousuke seemed enthusiastic about was a toy wooden zanpakutou, an obvious tool for inspiring young souls to pursue the Shinigami profession. Momo then took him back to the library to pick out more books, and they topped it off with a visit to the candy store. Lunch and dinner were dishes she knew he would like. None of it seemed to bring him more entertainment, however, than swinging around that wooden sword did. He seemed completely happy, with no lingering signs of 'floatiness,' but as the afternoon turned into evening, Momo wasn't sure she could stand to leave him.

As the clock approached eight o'clock, she knew it was time to break the news to Sousuke and she called him over to her. "Hey, Sousuke, we need to talk."

"Aw, I didn't do nothin' bad," he whined, tucking his toy weapon into his kimono sash.

"You're not in trouble," Momo replied. "No, I need to talk to you because I have an errand that I have to run tonight."

"So that's why you were being all fun today," he sighed. "It's 'cause we gotta go do something awful. So where do we hafta go tonight?"

"Actually," Momo said delicately. "This is an errand just for me and my friend, Miss Kuchiki. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you for just a few hours. Is that okay with you?"

There was a strange hint of excitement in Sousuke's voice when he answered. "Oh? You're going to hafta leave me here by myself? That's okay, Momo lady. I'll be real good."

"By yourself?" she laughed. "I never said anything about that. And you won't be by yourself, Sousuke. My other friend, Mr. Abarai is going to come and hang out with you while I'm gone."

"A babysitter?" the boy objected loudly. "I don't need no stinkin' babysitter!"

Momo was about to reassure him that it wasn't really like that when she heard the knock at the door. As she let Rukia and Renji into the apartment, she could still hear Sousuke grumbling behind her.

"Hey, you're those guys from yesterday!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw who the guests were. "So, red-pineapple-head, you must be Mr. Opera. You know, I don't need a babysitter."

"Uh, you can just call me Renji, kid," the young man said. "And I ain't a babysitter. I just want stick around so you won't get lonely. Your friend Momo here would be pretty upset if you were sad or lonely."

Sousuke didn't seem to know what to say but his cheeks turned slightly pink. "Momo's not my friend. She's my… She's… I don't need a babysitter!"

"Please be nice to Renji," Momo said, bending down to press a kiss to Sousuke's forehead. "I know that you're a good boy." Then she stood up, and as she walked over to join Rukia, she paused to whisper in Renji's ear. "Take good care of him. If anything happened to him…"

"Don't worry, Momo," he whispered back. "The little tyrant and I will be just fine."

With a final, agonizing goodbye, Momo walked out the door with Rukia. If she drew out this departure for too long, she knew that she would get overly anxious and not want to go. She left her apartment, left Sousuke and didn't look back, and together the two women made there way through the streets of the Seireitei to where a gateway to the Human World was waiting for them.

This was actually the first time that Momo had ever been alone with Rukia and she wasn't exactly sure how to act or what to say. Although she outranked Rukia, Momo was very much in awe of her. Miss Kuchiki was strong, smart, and beautiful, everything that Momo wanted to be. There was one thing she wanted to express, though, even if she felt self-conscious about it. She didn't look at the other woman when spoke, just kept her eyes ahead to where they were walking.

"Rukia, I… I really appreciate you doing this, helping me and Sousuke. I know that you still hate him."

"Huh?" Rukia responded.

"The way you look at him," Momo explained. "I can tell that you hate him. That's okay though! You have every right to hate him after everything he did, to you and Ichigo and everyone… But the fact that you would be willing to do this… It really means a lot to me."

"Oh…" Rukia replied in a gentle, thoughtful voice. "I wouldn't say that I hate him. He's just a child. It's just… when I see him, I can't help but remember how it felt when his hand plunged into my body."

The confession brought Momo's gaze automatically over to her traveling companion. "Rukia, I didn't realize…"

"Don't worry about it," the woman said, smiling. "The memory is fading with time. And no matter what, I agree with the sentence he received. I really admire you for standing up to the authorities and fighting for someone you care about. It reminds me of…"

The conversation came to a premature end when the two women reached their gateway in the middle of a field. Captain Jyuushirou, of Rukia's Thirteenth Division was there to oversee the passage, and with a respectful nod to his underling he opened up the gateway. The way it glowed in contrast to the night made Momo nervous. She had done this so often, many times at night, but she was still nervous. Rukia stepped through ahead of her, so she took a deep breath and followed.

The other end of the gateway opened into the middle of a Human World street that was lined on both sides with identical little houses.

"Which one is the Kurosaki house?" Momo whispered.

"It's right over there," Rukia answered, indicating with a finger. Then she led Momo to the front door of the correct address. The door opened without even having to be knocked, and a man dressed in a gaudy Hawaiian shirt, with dark hair and a goat-like beard greeted the two women.

"Come in, Rukia," he said. "Ah and you must be Miss Hinamori. I'm Kurosaki Isshin. Welcome to my home."

He extended his hand and when Momo took it he shook it vigorously. Then he ushered the ladies into his home and led them to the living room. Kurosaki Ichigo was already sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Ichigo," Rukia uttered.

"Yeah," Isshin said. "I want him to hear what I have to say to you ladies. Now, have a seat anywhere you want."

Momo sat down on the couch next to Rukia and Ichigo's dad took the remaining chair. Just based on their first introduction, Momo didn't know what to make of Isshin. He was a big man with a youthful hairstyle and very casual clothes, but the way he was acting now seemed almost too serious for his appearance. She wondered if he was always like this or if this was atypical. Maybe later she would ask Rukia about it.

"I heard about what happened at Aizen's trial," Isshin began. "So, you've been taking care of Aizen Sousuke since his transformation, right Miss Hinamori?" She nodded and he continued. "Now, Rukia told me that you overheard the boy talking in his sleep and that he mentioned the name Masaki."

"Y-yes," Momo answered, feeling suddenly shy. "He was calling out that name… But I don't have any evidence that the Masaki he was crying to was the same as your wife… Oh, um… That was her name, wasn't it?"

Isshin nodded. "Yes, Masaki was my wife. And she was the Masaki that Aizen was calling to in his sleep. Of that, I am quite certain."

"How are you so sure?" Rukia asked.

"Because," the man sighed, "Aizen Sousuke and my wife Masaki are brother and sister."

"What?" Momo gasped, shocked not only by the information but also by the casual way that Mr. Kurosaki introduced it. Before she was able to ask if it was really true, her voice was eclipsed by Ichigo's, loud and angry.

"This is a joke, right? Dad? There's no way that Mom and that monster are siblings!"

"Twins, actually," Isshin said seriously. "I knew you wouldn't take this news well, son. That's why I didn't tell you earlier."

The redhead was obviously not satisfied by his father's excuse and leapt to his feet defiantly. "No! I don't believe it! I won't accept that that man is my… my uncle! No! He can't be related to Mom! Her maiden name wasn't Aizen!"

Momo watched in fascination as Rukia got up from the couch and touched Ichigo's arm. "Ichigo, reacting like this won't change anything. You need to stay calm, at least long enough for your father to explain the rest of the story."

Without any further coaxing, the boy sat back down in his chair, though his posture and facial expression remained tensed. Once again, Momo was in complete awe of her colleague. Rukia sat down again and they all waited for Isshin to elaborate his startling announcement.

"Most of what I tell you comes directly from what Masaki told me," he said. "And though I have no physical proof, I trust her word more than any other evidence. Masaki told me that she had a twin brother named Sousuke whom she had loved very much, and that she and Sousuke had once been orphans struggling to survive on the streets of East Rukongai. When they were around the same age that Aizen has been reverted to, however, she got adopted by a family within Soul Society and was forced to leave her brother behind. You see, her new family thought that Sousuke was a no good punk and didn't want their new daughter to see him anymore."

"That's awful," Momo whimpered. "How could they keep her away from her brother?"

"I don't think their intentions were malicious," Isshin said. "I met Masaki's parents and they weren't mean Shinigami, but they did seem a bit paranoid. I think they just wanted their little girl to have a clean start, free from the streets. And Sousuke did have a reputation as one of the naughtier street kids, one of the one's to guard your wallet from."

Momo's expression softened slightly. "Yeah, I can imagine that."

"Ah, but Masaki loved him anyway," the man continued. "She even snuck out to see him a couple of times. But eventually her mom and dad caught her and from then on kept a much closer eye on her. She still worried about him all the time, though. Apparently, he was a popular target for bullies when he was on the streets, and he didn't like to fight back. It's quite likely that he was attacked even more once Masaki wasn't there to protect him."

"I think he was," Momo said sadly. "When we were out shopping the other day, someone threw a rock at him and he told me that it happens to him all the time. So, did Masaki ever see him again?"

"Not while they were still children," Isshin answered. "I met Masaki when we were both students at the Shinigami Academy. As you can probably imagine, it didn't take long for her to succumb to my charms and fall hopelessly in love with me. When she and I were in our third year there, Aizen Sousuke entered as a freshmen, and that's when she admitted to me that he was her estranged twin brother. She wouldn't talk to him, though. She told me about how they were kept separate and admitted that it had been so long that she was sure he must hate her by now. She felt so guilty and ashamed for abandoning him. I tried to reassure her that she did nothing wrong, but she always felt regret. The only thing that made her feel better about it was the fact that Sousuke became such a talented Shinigami, one of the most respected and liked captains in Soul Society."

At some point during the story, Momo had started to cry without even realizing it and now twin trickles flowed from the corners of her eyes to her chin. "Did she ever get to tell him she was proud of him? I mean… you and she came here to the human world at some point… Did she ever talk to Sousuke or say goodbye to him?"

Mr. Kurosaki's shoulders sank. "She wanted to. She even tried to. But she was afraid that she would hurt him. Then the move came so suddenly. When Urahara Kisuke was banished from Soul Society, as his collaborators, Shihouin Yoruichi and myself left with him. I asked Masaki to come with me because I couldn't live without her. She was nervous about leaving, though. I think deep down she had her doubts whether Sousuke was really as well adjusted as he seemed."

At this point Ichigo, who had managed to keep himself under control throughout the tale, burst forth with emotion. "What the Hell kind of story is this? You never mentioned any of this before! You and Mom meeting in Shinigami School! Collaborating with Mr. Urahara! On what? What did you two do that got him kicked out of Soul Society? This is insane!"

"Son," Isshin said calmly. "I know this isn't what you were expecting to hear. And there will be time for me to explain my business with Urahara Kisuke later. But I had to tell these things to Miss Hinamori because they may help her to raise that boy to be a better man."

"Oh, right!" Ichigo snarled, rising from his seat again. "Your story did a fine job of making Aizen out to be the victim! Like it was Mom's fault that he turned out the way he did!"

Isshin closed his eyes and drew a long breath. "That's not what I was trying to imply," he said. "Aizen Sousuke had issues from the start, the circumstances of his life just made them worse. Maybe if he and Masaki could have stayed close, it would have changed his fate. Maybe it wouldn't have. But I believe their relationship was very important in shaping Aizen's psychology. And now Miss Hinamori has an opportunity to try and undo some of the damage that being on the streets, separated from the only person who loved him, may have inflicted on his young mind."

"Undo the damage?" Ichigo barked. "Why even try? He's trash and he doesn't deserve to be saved. I bet he was the one who sent Grand Fisher after Mom! Because he hated her for getting adopted and having a better life than him! He's just a sick, selfish bastard!"

"I would not be surprised if he was behind the attack," his father solemnly admitted. "But remember, your mother was not the intended target of that attack."

The room went quiet, save for the sound of the air steaming from Ichigo's nostrils. Momo hadn't really seen him many times before, and never when he was this angry. Right now she was actually a little scared of him. She watched as Rukia got up again and took one of his hands in both of hers. Even as she tried to calm him down, his eyes remained fixed and furious.

"Ichigo," Rukia soothed. "Ichigo, calm down. Don't lose your temper over this. It's a big deal, but rage won't do any good."

When he finally spoke again, his voice was a low, controlled growl. "If Aizen had anything to do with my mother's death, he deserved to be executed. And you…" Suddenly he was glaring at Momo. "You're the one who's taking care of him. You actually sympathize with him, care about him. I want you out of my house."

Momo couldn't say anything. Her heart was pulsing in her throat and her limbs were cold and shaking. She awkwardly maneuvered herself from the couch and headed for the door, pausing to say one last thing to Kurosaki Isshin in a pathetic croak of a voice.

"Th-thank you for speaking to me, Mr. Kurosaki. I… I am so sorry to have caused any trouble."

Then she took a bow and staggered out the door before he could even respond. As soon as she was outside in the fresh night air, she sank to the ground and began sobbing. It was so much information to digest at one time and the collective emotion in that room was just too much for her to take. She continued to cry for several minutes until she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Rukia's kind eyes.

"Are you alright, Momo?" she asked.

"I don't know," Momo sniffed. "It was such shocking news… I had no idea… I never meant for my visit to cause so much trouble. Poor Ichigo. I wish there was something I could do… But he must hate me."

"He doesn't hate you," Rukia assured. "He's really upset right now, but I think he'll start to deal with it better once it has sunk in a little further. Hmm… You don't mind if I stay here, do you? Just for a few days to help him sort through some things."

"That's okay," Momo said. Then she managed a small smile through her tears. "Won't Renji get jealous, though?"

Rukia smiled coyly and shrugged. "Yeah, but Ichigo seems to get jealous when I'm in Soul Society with Renji, so it all evens out."

"Speaking of Renji," Momo said. "I think I'd better get back home and relieve him of babysitting duty. I know that's it's selfish and biased of me, but all I want to do right now is hold that little boy in my arms and not let go. I don't know how I could possibly tell him that his sister is dead, but I have to at least let him know that she's never stopped loving him and that I…" The return of tears choked off her sentence.

"That you love him, too?" Rukia finished.

Momo nodded. "He's not a bad boy. I know he's not!"

"Strange as it might sound, I believe you," Rukia responded. "And I think eventually everyone else will come to believe it, too. Even Ichigo. Now go home and take care of that little boy. I'll be rooting for both of you."

"Yes!" Momo declared, her enthusiasm restored as she got back on her feet. "And I'll be rooting for you and Ichigo! Hold on, Sousuke, I'm coming!"

* * *

After returning through the gateway alone, Momo didn't walk but ran through the streets of the Seireitei back to her apartment. She had only been gone less than two hours, so the kid didn't even have enough time to cause Renji too much grief. Still, she wouldn't be content until she saw with her own eyes and heard with her own ears that everything had gone smoothly. 

When she got home, however, her apartment door was halfway open, an ominous sign that made her heart race. She scrambled inside and immediately began calling his name.

"Sousuke? Sousuke, I'm home! Where are you, Sousuke?"

Stepping into the living room, she found Renji sprawled on the floor, passed out and drooling. But Sousuke was nowhere to be found.

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 9

Free Talk- I hope everyone had a very good New Year. Actually, the holidays is one of the reasons that this chapter took longer than usual. Also, the cord for my laptop broke and I won't be able to use my computer until the new one arrives. So this chapter was written on my sister's computer (which she so graciously let me borrow). I have a lot of other stuff to worry about right now, and I think my creative spark might be a bit low. Even the last chapter wasn't read as much as previous ones (based on hits) so I may need to try and take a break and get my spark back to make the story as interesting as it can be. I hope nobody will be upset if the chapters take a little longer. I also hope that people like this new one about Sousuke and the babysitter. The results are a bit predictable, but I tried to put some cute moments in. As always, thanks for the support and for the patience. Please tell me what you think. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome!**  
**

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 9: Misbehaving

* * *

Sousuke felt the butterfly-wing flutter of excitement in his chest when Momo mentioned that she would be going out to run an errand and leaving him behind. He hadn't figured he would have such an opportunity so soon to help out that squinty-eyed man, Itchy-maru. The little boy's hopes were dashed to bits, however, when his caretaker so cheerfully mentioned that he would not be spending the evening unsupervised. 

When announcing the name of the babysitter, it sounded like Momo said Mr. Opera, which Sousuke thought was an absolutely ridiculous name. Of course, he thought it was absolutely ridiculous that he should even have to have a babysitter. After all, he wasn't a baby. Didn't Momo know that he had been living all alone on the street for two months now? He was smart and capable of taking care of himself. But in any case, he had learned from the bath incident that he couldn't win in an argument against that lady. All he could do now was wait to see what this Opera guy was like and try to determine what kind of night they would have together.

The knock on the door of Momo's apartment came just moments after the unpleasant plans were revealed and she welcomed in a small woman with wispy black hair and a tall man with a head like a bright red pineapple. This had to be Mr. Opera. He was dressed in traditional black shinigami uniform and wore a white cloth tied around his forehead, though Sousuke could see the edges of strange tattoos on his forehead, poking out from underneath. The little boy's first impression of this man was that he was a big tough guy who loved to fight and show off, more brawn than brain. And yet, Sousuke couldn't ignore a weird intuition that this guy might actually provide some fun.

Momo kissed Sousuke goodbye, and it made his heart squirm slightly when she told him what a good boy she knew he was. _Helping Itchy-maru isn't bad_, he had to remind himself. _It doesn't mean I'm bad. And if it helps out Sis then it's a very good thing… Besides, Momo doesn't even hafta find out about it._

He was already feeling content with his decision when Momo and the other dark-haired lady left together. Now it was just him and the red pineapple-head, eyeing each other suspiciously.

"So… _Reeeeennnnjiiiii_…" Sousuke said, calling the man by the name he'd suggested but drawing it out contemptuously. "What did Momo say to you 'bout coming here? 'Cause I don't believe you when you say yer not a babysitter."

Renji smirked. "You sure are a suspicious little tyke. What makes ya think I'd lie to ya?"

"You're a grownup," Sousuke snorted. "All you guys are liars."

"Really?" Renji asked. "All of us? Even Momo?"

Sousuke immediately felt heat in his face. "Yeah, Momo too. But… she doesn't do it so much. She's not as bad as other grownups."

"I see," Renji said, scratching his chin below a wide grin.

This was the other thing that Sousuke hated about adults. They treated kids like they were idiots. Did they really think that? Or was it some big joke among all adults, something to make them feel superior to children?

"So you're friends with Momo?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," the redhead answered. "Me an' her go all the way back to Shinigami School. We were classmates in the advanced class."

Sousuke snorted softly. "Advanced class… She doesn't seem like that great of shinigami. She says she's a vice captain but she doesn't even work."

"You're wrong," Renji said, shaking his head. "Momo is a phenomenal shinigami. She just chose to take a break from her duties to take care of you, kid."

"That's what she says," Sousuke replied skeptically. "But if she was a really great shinigami she wouldn't give up being an officer just for some random kid off the street that she just met. I just don't get it."

Renji shrugged. "You don't have to get it, squirt."

The little boy frowned at the patronizing response. He kind of felt like he didn't like Renji very much. But at the same time, Renji knew stuff about Momo that Sousuke didn't, and for some inexplicable reason, the boy really wanted to know. He was fascinated by Momo, though he would never admit it, even to himself.

"You and Momo were at school t'gether, eh?" he asked.

Renji nodded. "I already told ya. But it wasn't just us who were friends. There was also this other guy, this blonde little wienie Kira Izuru. Man, he had the biggest crush on Momo back then."

Sousuke scrunched his nose up. "What's a crush?"

"Uh…" Renji began awkwardly. "A crush… Well, it means that you want to be somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend. That's the simplest explanation I can think of."

"So this Kira guy wants ta be Momo's boyfriend an' kiss her and junk?" Sousuke asked.

"I dunno if he still does, but he sure did when we were in school," Renji answered.

"Crushes are stupid," the boy blurted out, even though his insides felt funny. They didn't just feel funny, they felt horrible, like his belly was full of jagged rocks. Why did hearing that some guy wanted to be Momo's boyfriend make him so angry? His young brain couldn't explain it, but his heart couldn't help it. "Does she wanna be his girlfriend?" he asked without thinking.

"I don't think so," Renji answered, giving Sousuke an odd feeling of relief. "Why do you… Oh, I get it. You're jealous, huh kiddo? So you want to be Momo's boyfriend when you grow up?"

"Ewww no!" Sousuke stammered in disgust. "I don't wanna be anybody's boyfriend! Never ever! Girls are annoying! And kissing is the grossest thing ever!" His voice became softer and less confident as his eyes moved to the floor. "Besides… I don't even like dumb Momo."

Renji didn't say anything after that and the silence made Sousuke uncomfortably aware that the two of them had just been standing there in one place talking about Momo for so long. And now this funky-browed pineapple-head probably thought that he liked Momo. But he still had to ask one more question. Just one more question and he wouldn't talk about Momo the rest of the night.

"Hey Renji, do you know who the guy is that stabbed Momo and gave her a scar?"

He waited patiently for the babysitter's reply, but it took some time. Renji obviously had to think about how to answer the question.

"I do know who did it, but you don't have to worry about it, shorty. That guy's not gonna hurt her again."

"But Momo said she was scared he would come back," Sousuke informed. "How do you know he's not gonna hurt her?"

"Well, I guess I don't have any proof," Renji reasoned. "But I still don't think you have anything to worry about."

The boy folded his arms over his chest and raised his chin defiantly. "You can't tell me what I should do. It doesn't matter what you say, if that guy ever comes back, I'm gonna kill 'im myself."

"Jeez, you shouldn't talk so lightly about killing people, kid," said Renji. "Aren't you into doing kid stuff at all? You know, playing games and shit?"

"Okay!" Sousuke shouted, relishing the change of conversation even though he didn't get the answer he was waiting for. "Let's play games and shit!"

"Uh, you probably shouldn't say shit, kid," Renji advised.

"Why? What does it mean?" the kid asked.

The redhead chuckled slightly as answered. "It means bad stuff… but it's not very nice way to say it, not a word kids should say. I don't think Momo would want to hear coming from your mouth. And if she knew that I taught it to you…"

"Oh I see," Sousuke huffed. He paused for a moment before beaming a huge smile. Then he took off running in circles all around Renji, chanting his new favorite word. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Cut that out and let's play sumthin' already ya little punk!" Renji barked, planting a strong hand down on the boy's forehead and bringing him to a rough stop.

The rude demand and physical restraint infuriated Sousuke and he put his hands on his hips in advance of a loud and spiteful protest. The fingers of his right hand, however, landed not on cloth over soft flesh, but on the wooden handle of his little sword. He smiled as he pulled it out from tucked into his kimono sash and swung it out in front of him.

"Okay! Let's play pirates! I'll be Peter Pan and you can be the nasty Captain Opera!"

"Don't you mean Captain Hook?" Renji asked.

"Naw, you don't got a toothy enough smile to be Hook," Sousuke said. "He's really mean an' toothy. Now on guard yuh scurvy pirate! Yah!" Then he lashed out the wooden blade in a wide swing, bringing it into contact with Renji's leg using the full strength of his little arms.

"Rrrrr… DAMMIT!" the young man roared, clutching at his shin with both hands. From this pose he snapped into a fighting stance and whipped out a large sword, still encased in its scabbard, from his side. "Alright ya little punk! Time to send you back to Never Never Land!" His voice was ferocious but the mouth producing it sported a big smile.

A wild make-believe fight was soon raging inside Hinamori Momo's small apartment. Howls of laughter and improvised pirate speech combined with the clunking sounds of Sousuke's humble wooden sword colliding with the thick leather of Renji's blade's scabbard as the two circled and chased each other. For some reason, Sousuke found that imagining he was fighting that Kira guy instead of Renji made the fight even more exhilarating, even though he didn't know what Kira looked like.

Sousuke knew that he was at a major disadvantage in terms of height and reach, but he overcame it by climbing on Momo's furniture. Table, desk, and bookshelf became his cliffs and trees. The mock battled spilled from the living room into the kitchen, where the boy hastily clamored up onto the countertop and poised his toy sword at Renji's throat triumphantly.

"I gotcha now, pirate!" he exalted.

Rather than giving a never-say-die pirate response, however, the babysitter let his shoulders sag and his sheathed zanpakutou fall at his side. "Yeah, I guess you got me," he sighed exhaustedly. "So, are you getting tired yet, squirt? 'Cause I am. What time does Momo have you go to bed at?"

"Aww man!" Sousuke lamented. "Jus' when I was startin' to think you were fun… If you don't wanna play anymore, fine. But it's not my bedtime yet. I go to sleep with Momo, an' she's not here."

"So you sleep with Momo, eh?" Renji said. There was something funny about his voice, as if he were saying something naughty, which Sousuke didn't understand. "Hmmm…" the man continued thoughtfully. "Well, couldn't you get in bed now and wait for her to come home?"

"Wait in bed?" Sousuke moaned. "But that's soooooooooooo booooooring."

"How 'bout if I read you a story while we wait then?" Renji offered. "I heard from Momo that you like stories."

Sousuke pouted. "Yeah, they're okay I guess… I'm not all the way ready for bed yet, though. I gotta brush my teeth. And I need a glass of water."

"Eh, is it really okay for you to have a drink right before bed, kid?" Renji asked. "Won't that make you wet the bed?"

"I never wet the bed!" Sousuke snapped. The very idea that he would wet the bed was insulting to the highest degree and it made him very angry. "I bet you wet the bed! Yer the one who shouldn't have a drink! You just go get the books, pineapple-head! I'll get my water all by myself! Now go! Go!"

"Alright, I'm going," Renji said. "Jeez, you don't have to be such a mean little booger. Eh, don't mess anything up in here." As he exited the kitchen, Sousuke could still hear him muttering under his breath. "Insufferable little… I wonder if he acts like this to Momo… She must have the patience of a…"

Sousuke released a loud sigh as soon as the man was out of earshot. _I guess he really was just pretending to be to be all fun and nice. He's just here to watch me like a prison guard guy…Prison… Itchy-maru! _The wanderings of his little brain had brought him once again to the fox-eyed prisoner who'd promised to reunite him with Masaki. _But how could I ever sneak outta this place when I always got someone watching me? Tonight woulda been my best shot if it weren't for that stupid pineapple-head. At least I can break the dumb rule and have a drink after dinner._

From his perch on the kitchen counter, Sousuke could reach up and get a glass from the cupboard himself. He just had to remember which cabinet they were in. Edging along the countertop, he opened each one and examined its contents. _Bowls… Food… _He was about to close the second door and move to the third, but he stopped and took another look in that food cabinet. Right there on the middle shelf was a familiar little blue jar.

_The sleeping stuff! Hmmm… Just a little spoon of it will make you fall asleep… I wouldn't use it to put Momo to sleep. But Renji…_

The little boy suddenly felt his heart speed up in his chest. It was a risky plan, and he knew Momo would not like it, but it might be the only chance he got to see his sister again. After all, he had less than a week to help that funny prisoner. As soon as Renji passed out, Sousuke would go back to the courthouse and free Itchy-maru. Then he would go and find his sister. It had been over two months since she left him. Now, the mere thought of seeing her again made the corners of his eyes sting. It took all of his will to keep himself from actually crying, which would have been way too girly.

When he found the cabinet with the cups, he took out two instead of one and filled them both with water from the sink. To one of the cups he added a spoonful of powder from the jar and made sure to remember which one it was, the one in his left hand. Then he tucked the jar into his sash. It might come in handy later. Being very careful not to spill, he dismounted from the counter and went to find the babysitter.

Sousuke painted his face with the most apologetic expression he could muster before entering the bedroom with his two glasses of water. Renji wasn't there. So the boy wandered through the other rooms until he found his sitter in the living room with a large book on his lap.

"Lighting's better in here, kid," he said gruffly.

Sousuke didn't object to the change of venue. "Mr. Opera," he said, gently and politely. "I'm real sorry I yelled at ya and got all mad and… and shit. I brought you some water, too."

With an intentionally shy smile, he offered up the glass from his left hand. Renji took it and drank with no hint of suspicion, making Sousuke both excited and nervous. He took small sips from his own glass and watched the man intently as he opened up the storybook, waiting for the first signs of drowsiness. There weren't any. Renji began reading Alice in Wonderland as wide-awake as ever. When he got to the end of the first page, he keeled over forward, completely out.

"It worked!" Sousuke whispered triumphantly. _It actually worked! I can't believe it… I'm gonna see get to see Sis! Tonight! I don't even know what I'll say to her… Should I tell her about the mean kids who hurt me? No, she doesn't have to worry about that 'cause they won't bug me now, now that I live with Momo…_

He still wanted to live with Momo. Even if Masaki's new family asked him to stay with them, he knew in his heart that he would say no. It felt like a betrayal. He was choosing Momo over Sis. Even though he loved Sis, Momo was the one he wanted to stay with. Sousuke left her apartment knowing that he would come back, and that knowledge was enough to light his way through the darkened streets of Soul Society all the way to the courthouse.

Most of what Sousuke had learned about stealing, sneaking, and breaking into to places, he had learned from Masaki. Both siblings had been quite successful getting by on the streets, but he had a particular knack for it. It was his constant sneaky crimes, in fact, that had turned so many of the other urchins against him. Now was the ultimate test of his abilities, with the ultimate reward.

Getting into the building turned out to be surprisingly easy, as Sousuke had arrived just as the last shinigami clerks were leaving. Because of his small size, he was able to slip inside the door without anyone noticing him. Now, with no idea where Itchy-maru was being held, he had to rely on trial and error to guide him.

He crept around corners as quietly as a mouse. The halls and rooms all seemed empty, but there was always the risk that someone would suddenly appear out of some little nook and ambush him, in which case he was totally screwed. Even if he didn't say a word, the pounding of his heart might alert them to his presence.

He'd searched at least a dozen rooms with only books and furniture inside, and was beginning to think that the fox-face had deceived him, when he heard a distant hush of voices. For a moment he stood motionless, trying to hear if they were moving towards or away from where he was. The speakers, two of them he guessed, weren't moving at all, and in his silent state he could make out some of what they were saying.

"Eh, can you believe we got stuck her watching this villain? This sucks. I had plans for tonight."

"Yeah, so did I. Just deal with it. Though, if you ask me, we should just execute the bastard. Just like we should have killed you-know-who."

These two were watching the prisoner, Sousuke was certain. He followed the sounds of their voices, not yet thinking about what he would do when he actually found them and had to somehow get past them. This listening-based method of locating led him down the hall and around several corners, to a slightly ajar door. Peeping through the cracks, the boy confirmed that this was the right room. Inside he could see the metal bars of a prison and the silver hair of the prisoner crouched in the corner. The two guards were lazily slumped, like wet laundry, in chairs on either side of the cage.

Seeming to sense the presence of the little boy, the prisoner's face lifted and his sharp gaze connected with Sousuke's. There was eye contact. Sousuke swallowed hard before setting into the complex thought process of making a good plan of attack. Itchy-maru gestured to him silently from inside his cage, pointing a thin white finger at one guard's side then the other. He was pointing to the water flasks at their hips.

_How could he know that I have the sleep powder?_ Sousuke marveled to himself. The answer to the question didn't really matter. All that mattered was that he had a way to get passed the guards. Of course, it would be a real test of his sneaking skills to get the powder into the water.

The lamps in the room cast long, dark shadows across the wooden floor, and Sousuke could use them to his advantage, being small enough to slip inside them. It also helped that the guards looked rather bored and were probably already a bit tired. As he crept through the narrow bands of concealing darkness, the prisoner kept watch over him with fox-like eyes. Sousuke made it to underneath one of the chairs and spiked the first guard's drink. Then he crawled through the maze of shadows to the underside of the second chair and repeated the feat. When he was done, he scampered back through the door and waited outside, his heart beating wildly.

After a moment he peered back inside. There was still an obstacle. The guards actually had to drink the sleeping potion for it to work. To accomplish this task, Itchy-maru used his own method, as Sousuke curiously observed.

"Say," the prisoner said politely to the guards. "I'm a bit parched. Do you think you might let me take a sip from your water flask?"

"No way, you filthy scum," one guards growled, turning his neck to look disdainfully at him.

"Yeah," the other guard added. "You ain't getting one drop of this."

Then they both began to drink from their flasks, exaggerating their refreshment in front of the prisoner. Less than five minutes later, they were both on the floor, fast asleep and snoring.

"Nice work, young Aizen Sousuke," Itchy-maru said with a proud grin. "You need both keys to open the cell."

The boy wordlessly complied, retrieving the keys from both sleeping shinigami and opened up the cage. "It doesn't seem all that hard to break outta this thing, Itchy-maru," he said.

"Call me Gin," the strange man replied smoothly. "This is just the temporary holding cell, where the accused are kept immediately before their trials. The real prison is much more secured. Though I supposed you wouldn't remember that."

"Why would I?" Sousuke asked under a wrinkled brow.

"Oh, no reason," Gin said. "Now, could you help me get this collar off my neck? It's really bothering me. You need four keys to unlock, two from each guard, and you have to insert them all at the exact same time. We'll need to work together."

Sousuke found the appropriate keys and handed two to Gin. Together they removed the restrictive collar and set out to leave the courthouse. The escape was just easy as sneaking into the place. The silver-haired shinigami knew exactly which halls and stairs to take to avoid any lingering clerk or security personnel. Strangely though, they didn't leave through the front doors and out onto the street. Gin led Sousuke out of the building onto the roof. Once out in the cool night air, he stopped and the boy finally felt it was time to ask about the other end of the deal.

"Gin," he said cautiously. "I got you out just like you asked so…" His voice became more excited. "Please take me to go see her! I wanna see her!"

The man's grin twisted up even higher and more sinister as he looked down at his little cohort. "You'll see her very soon," he said. "Now I am dreadfully sorry to have to do this…" He raised his hand and held his palm just centimeters from Sousuke's forehead. The boy didn't even have time to ask what was going on before his mind went blank and he fell into unconsciousness.

To be continued…


	10. Chapter 10

Free Talk- It took a while but here is the next chapter. Here the real villain of the story is revealed and some big things happen, so I hope I did a good job making it interesting. I have my laptop back now. Unfortunately, I just started an exhausting new 9-5 job that will run through the end of March (I have no idea what will happen after that). But I really don't have a lot of time now. My free time has become a precious commodity. I hope nobody will be too sad if I put the story on something of a hiatus. I will still try to write a little on the weekends, but a new chapter probably won't come for quite some time. I promise I will finish it, though. We're getting very close to the climax now. And I hope I will write more Sousuke and Momo stories after this one is finished (especially to make up for my last one, which I don't think was very well executed). In any case, thank you all so much the support and warm reception of this story. I hope you like the new chapter. Please comment and tell me what you think. Oh, and I did a little retcon to fix a mistake. Momo found Renji passed out in the kitchen even though he passed out in the living room... but that's been corrected. **  
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**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

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Chapter 10: Reuniting With Old Friends

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When Sousuke's mind was returned to the tender age of five, he lost all of his vast knowledge of Shinigami arts and skills, and therefore had no idea that it was a very powerful kidou that Gin had used to knock him out.

He opened his bleary eyes, or at least he thought so. It was hard to tell when there was nothing to see but blackness. There was no way for him to tell where he was or how much time had gone by since he'd passed out. Momo might be back at her apartment already, wondering where he was.

It took a moment for the true terror of the darkness to grip Sousuke, but when it did it struck hard and would not let go. Whatever was beneath his bare feet was flat and cold, rock or tile perhaps. He could be anywhere, the edge of a cliff or a den full of hungry tigers. He could have been abandoned in a pitch-black cave to die all alone, never seeing anything else for the rest of his life.

"Hey!" he shouted out desperately. "Hello! Is anybody else in here? I… I don't know where I am! My name is Sousuke! Aizen Sousuke!"

"No need to yell now, Master Aizen," a voice hissed behind him. It was Gin. "You'll find out where we are soon enough. Right now, though, we must wait for someone."

Sousuke spun around and reached out, groping the air to try to locate the man, but all he felt was empty space. Even if it was still dark, he was relieved that he wasn't alone, and the news that they were waiting for someone gave him hope. "We're waiting for her in the dark? Where is this place? When will she get here? Wait… Master?"

"Shhhhhh!" was Gin's only response.

Maybe this is all just a part of the plan. Maybe this is the only way I'm allowed to see Masaki. 

An echo of heavy footsteps on the hard floor, which had started so faintly that the boy hadn't noticed it at first, were now growing louder, drawing closer. The nature of the sound indicated that this darkened space was actually very large and cavernous. The steps came to a stop right in front of Sousuke, or at least he assumed as much. Then there was a protracted, trembling silence.

A beam of light fell down on the frightened boy, and even though it was not very bright it made his eyes burn just because they were so acclimated to the dark. He couldn't even keep them open long enough to get a good look at who was in front of him or to look around for Gin. While he was still rubbing his eyes and trying to adjust to the light, a vicious roar split the quiet in half.

"What the Hell is this, Ichimaru? Some sort of sick joke! This isn't Master Aizen! It's just damn some kid!"

"Oh, but this child is Master Aizen," Gin's slippery voice responded. "Don't you recognize him?"

"I'm rapidly losing my patience with you, Fox Face!" the unidentified male voice growled back. "I don't have time for your games! What have you done with Aizen?"

Gin's voice remained calm and sinister as he replied. "I have done nothing to him. This was Soul Society's doing. This is the punishment they saw fit to impose upon him. But considering the alternative… it was either this or death… this does not seem so bad."

"Not so bad?" the mean man barked. "We can't rebuild an empire when our leader is a fucking baby!"

Master, Soul Society, punishment, leader. These words popped out from a conversation that little Sousuke did not really understand. What he did understand, however, was that this stranger had just referred to him with a wholly derogatory term, and despite his fear, he felt the need to correct the man. Whoever he was, he was standing outside the spotlight, so Sousuke could not see him, which made confronting him much easier in the mind of the young boy.

"I dunno what 'fucking' means, but I'm not a baby!" he snorted. The following pause, made him immediately regret the outburst. The brief silence was followed by a cruel, raspy laugh and Sousuke watched in horror as the dark silhouette of a man's face emerged into the column of light, the only clearly visible feature a glistening white grin. It was the villain from his nightmare.

"Captain Hook," the boy breathed.

"I guess you're old enough to talk then," the hideous smile spoke. "I didn't catch that last part, though. Would you repeat it?" Then he leaned in closer so that more of his face became visible. All of his features were sharp and severe. His eyes were ice blue, the lids rimmed in black. His hair was a wild mass of blue-green.

"I just…" Sousuke was surprised by how shaky his voice suddenly sounded and tried to recover his boldness. "I just thought you looked like Captain Hook looked in a dream I dreamed."

The man laughed. "I'm not some pirate from your dreams, boy. The name's Grimmjow Jaguarjack." He extended a white, bony hand down towards Sousuke.

"Aizen Sousuke," the boy answered, nervously taking the hand but letting go quickly after feeling how cold it was.

Grimmjow didn't say anything else to Sousuke, turning attention instead towards Gin and speaking to him as if the little boy weren't even there. "This certainly is not what I expected," he growled.

"Yes, well, you really can't blame me for this," Gin cheerfully hissed. "I did exactly what you asked me to the last time we spoke, just before I was captured. I delivered him to you, now you have to keep up your end of the bargain."

"What?" Grimmjow roared. "I asked you to bring back our Master."

"I did bring him back," Gin replied. "This is him. You never did specify an age."

"I didn't think I had to! I thought your shrewd little brain could realize that I was expecting a man capable and willing to lead our revolution."

The congeniality was slowly draining from Gin's voice now. "Ah, but you didn't specify. And even if you had, it wouldn't really matter. This is Aizen Sousuke, the only one in the world. And, because I took considerable risks on my own life to bring him here…"

"Alright!" snarled Grimmjow. "Have it your way! When the revolution comes, you won't be harmed."

"And…" Gin urged.

"And," Grimmjow said grudgingly. "That girl, Matsumoto, she won't harmed either."

"None of your goons are to lay a finger on her," Gin reinforced harshly.

"Alright," the blue-haired man growled. "Just get out of here before I change my mind. You must have some little hiding place to slink off to. That is… unless you've changed your mind and decided to join us…"

Gin scratched at the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. "Naw, I'd better get back to the courtroom and in my cell before those guards wake up. Ran really hates it when I disappear without warning, and I think I've tortured her enough."

"So you're giving up your gift of freedom?"

"It wouldn't be all that free," he continued. "Having to stay hidden, knowing that my punishment will be even worse if I'm spotted, and not being able to be with Ran. I'll take my chances with the court. Heh. After all, if they only punished him with this, I don't think there's much chance I'll get executed. Mmm, good luck with your project, though."

Sousuke heard the Grimmjow guy mutter something under his breath, but couldn't tell what it was. Then he saw Gin's face retreat back into the shadows and heard the sound of footsteps starting to walk away. It filled his chest with liquid terror. Even if Gin had tricked him, Sousuke trusted him more than the unstable man he was being left with.

These two obviously had him confused with someone else, their leader. Though how they could make such a mistake was mind-boggling to the young boy. Did they have the same name? But Gin had told him that Masaki was waiting for him. How could that be the case if they'd gotten the wrong guy? None of it made sense.

"Wait!" Sousuke hollered, bringing the footsteps to a halt. "Itchy-maru! If this Grimm guy has to keep his deal with you, you hafta keep your deal with me!"

The sound of footsteps resumed, but they had changed direction, this time they were growing louder, not fainter. Gin was coming back. "Hmmm…" he hummed as he pushed his face back into the column of light, illuminating his grinning features. "What was it that I promised you again? I seem to have forgotten."

"Masaki!" Sousuke stammered. "You said she was alone and waiting for me! You said you would take me to her!"

"Ah yes," Gin said slyly. "I recall now telling you that there was a young woman waiting for you, someone that you know quite well. Hmmm… but I don't recall ever saying the name Masaki. No, that wasn't the individual I was talking about."

All the blood exited the boy's face and seemed to pool in his feet. "What?" he breathed in disbelief. "If… if you weren't talking about Masaki… Who?"

"Mr. Jaguarjack here knows who I'm talking about," Gin responded. "I'm sure he'll make all the arrangements for the happy reunion. In the meantime, I really must get going. Bye-bye." Then, with a casual wave, he disappeared once again.

For a few seconds, Sousuke stood in place, trying to decide whether to run after the silver-haired Shinigami and wondering if his feet would even respond if he tried. Before he'd reached any conclusion, however, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, anchoring him to his spot.

"Looks like it's just you an' me, boy," Grimmjow growled in his ear. "I still haven't decided what the Hell I'm gonna do with you, but don't start thinkin' you're safe or secure. Now, let's find a place to stick you for now."

Without any warning, the lights all came on. Blinding white flooded in from every direction, assaulting the little boy's eyes relentlessly and swallowing whole the beam of light that he was standing in. After five or ten minutes, when he could finally open his eyes again, Sousuke turned all around, at last able to see where he was.

He had never seen anything like it. The light revealed that he was standing in the ruins of an enormous palace, a wreckage of white marble with a strange overgrowth of quartz glistening in the light that came from some unseen place. It had the feel of a place where something momentous had happened or a great civilization had thrived and met its downfall. "Whoa… What is this place?" he asked in awe.

"Of course you wouldn't remember Hueco Mundo," Grimmjow said, his tone incredibly irritated.

Sousuke looked up and took his first good look at the angry man whose hand still held him in place. A gasp of shock escaped his throat. The man's body, which had seemed menacing even in the dim glow of the spotlight, was a map of silvery pink scars. Or at least the skin that was showing was. This guy had been in some serious fights. The most gruesome shock of all, however, was when Sousuke realized that Grimmjow only had one arm.

"Do I frighten you?" Grimmjow asked.

Sousuke was actually too frightened to speak an answer, but he shook his head 'no' anyways.

"I see you're staring where my other arm should be," the man continued. "If you can believe it, I lost that arm twice."

The way he said it was strangely good humored, almost friendly, and Sousuke took it as a glimmer of hope that this man might be more sympathetic than he let on. Such hopes, however, were crushed into dust when Grimmjow violently grabbed one of the boy's little arms and twisted it painfully before dragging him mercilessly away.

"C'mon brat!" the man spat. "We can't have some fuckin' baby wandering around unsupervised. Yer going into lockup."

Sousuke's legs were too short to keep up with Grimmjow's pace and dragged behind him on the cold floor, through the long hallways and down corridors, until they reached a plain white door. Grimmjow pushed it open and shoved the him inside, but before he closed it again, Sousuke managed to squeak out the question that had been stuck in his head for while.

"What… what about the girl? The girl Itchy-maru said was waiting? If it's not Masaki…"

"Oh, right," Grimmjow snorted. Then he retrieved something from his side and held it out to the boy. "While I'm deciding what to do with you, kid, you and her can get reacquainted."

"A sword?" Sousuke asked, completely bewildered. "But I thought…"

Before he could finish, Grimmjow thrust the weapon into the boy's arms. "Her name's Kyouka Suigetsu." And without another word he slammed the door shut, sealing Sousuke up in darkness.

The weight of the sword pulled Sousuke's arms down to the floor and eventually he had to just set it down. He was alone again, in a small dark space, and the only sound he could hear was his captor's footsteps beyond the door as he walked away. High up on the far wall there was a small window with metal bars that was filtering in the dim glow of distant moon.

Ordinarily, Sousuke would have pounded his fists against that door and screamed at the top of his lungs for freedom. Ordinarily, he would have spit and cussed, refusing to give up without a fight. But now, he had lost all will to fight, all hope. Something about this place, something about that horrible man, just drained it from him. He had broken the rules for a chance to see his sister again, but it had all been a trap. Now his kidnappers didn't even really want him. As he sat on the pale square of light on the floor, knees hugged close to his chest, he couldn't stop himself from crying.

"Masaki," he sobbed. "Oh Sis, you'd think I'm such an idiot if you could see what happened… I just wanted to see you so badly… All I got was locked up, and some dumb sword I can't even lift… Where are you, Saki? I need to see you… need to tell you things… I hafta warn you about what the fortune man said. Oh, but I'll never see you again… I'm already starting to forget what you look like…"

He buried his face in his arms and let the tears soak through his sleeves and warm his skin. He had never cried like this before, never felt so completely scared and helpless and alone. The harder he tried to picture Masaki's sweet, pretty face, the fuzzier it became in his memory. His attempts were replaced by another beautiful girl, whose face popped into his head very clearly.

"Momo…"he whimpered. "I wanna go back. I wanna stay with you. I don't even care if I hafta take fifty baths a day, I wanna go home." He felt a funny lump in his throat. After just a few days, Momo's apartment had become home. No, that wasn't it. It was Momo herself that had become his home. "Momo…"

He was still crying, steeped in his misery, when a female voice whispered in his ear. "Don't cry, Sousuke."

The shock of it caused him to jump up from his spot. "Who said that? Who else is in here?"

He looked all around the dark cell, terrified, as the sound of his shaky breath filled the space around him. After a moment, something stirred in the blackest corner, and he focused his eyes on that spot. Out from the shadows, a young woman emerged, a woman so beautiful that Sousuke forgot to breath as he watched her step into the shaft of moonlight.

Shimmering hair, like water, spilled around her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were pale sea green and her skin was as soft and white as lily petals. She wore translucent, flowing clothes, which were clean and perfect and gorgeous. If she was another prisoner, she couldn't possibly have been here very long. "Sousuke," she said through soft pink lips. "Don't you remember me?"

Dumbstruck, the boy just shook his head no. The woman came closer to him and touched his cheek with her delicate fingers. Sousuke could see her mouth was twitching, as if she were trying hard not to cry. "It's really you, Sousuke," she breathed.

"I am Sousuke," he managed to say. "I'm Aizen Sousuke… but everyone here seems to have me mixed up with someone else. I'm just…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the woman had fallen to her knees and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him against her chest. "It's really you! I've finally found you!" She pulled out of the tight hug to look at him, and Sousuke could see that she had tears in her eyes and dripping down her cheeks. "Look at you," she said. "My dear Sousuke. You're so tiny. You're so… cute!"

"Hey!" he protested. "Only Momo's allowed to call me cute. And I'm not _that_ tiny! Who are you, anyways? Why does everyone around here act like they know me but then are surprised when they see me?"

"I do know you, Sousuke," the lady said thoughtfully. "I know you better than anyone else in the world. After all, the only reason I exist is for you. My name is Kyouka Suigetsu."

"Kyo… But that's the name of that sword," Sousuke realized out loud.

Kyouka Suigetsu nodded gracefully. "That's right, I am your zanpakutou."

"What?" the boy exclaimed. "I'm not a Shinigami. Why would I have a Shinigami sword?"

The woman closed her eyes. "This must be your punishment."

"Punishment?" Sousuke stammered. "Itchy-maru and Grimmjaw were talking about punishment earlier… So I'm being locked up here as punishment? What did I do wrong to get locked up for?"

"No, no," the woman said in a calm, even tone. "It is difficult for me to explain this, Sousuke. The reason why everyone seems surprised to see you is because the last time they did, you were a grown man. You are really an adult."

Sousuke folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes back at the woman who was clearly very confused. "I'm not a grown-up," he explained. "I just had my birthday a few months ago. I was in East Rukongai… it was around the last time I saw my sister, and we went to a fortuneteller and…"

"And things changed overnight one night, didn't they?" Kyouka Suigetsu asked. "You woke up and you were somewhere new?"

"Yeah," Sousuke answered, a small wistful smile on his lips. "That's because someone decided to take care of me."

"No, that's because every memory you made after that night was erased. Your mind and your body were both reset." The way she spoke, the seriousness of her voice, made the woman's words impossible to ignore. "Sousuke, that day you remember, when you went to the fortuneteller with your sister, that was over two-hundred years ago."

The words struck Sousuke like a bolt of lightning. This strange woman who'd appeared out of nowhere was making the most outragous claim, and yet he believed every word of it. Something about this Kyouka Suigetsu, her face or her voice or the aura surrounding her, made Sousuke certain that she could not lie to him. Her story gave frightening new meaning to everything that had happened the last few days, including his kidnapping. It also raised more new questions than he could count.

"Two… two-hundred years?" he breathed. "And I became a Shinigami? Wait… Masaki! She's all grown up now! What happened to her? Did I warn her in time? Is she…?"

Kyouka Suigetsu bowed her head solemnly. Sousuke could tell that it wasn't good news before she even spoke. "Like you, your sister became a Shinigami. She got married and relocated to the human the human world with her husband. Now, it breaks my heart to have to tell you… She's gone, Sousuke. Masaki is dead."

In the brief time it took for the zanpakutou to make the grim announcement all the blood in Sousuke's body had turned into ice water. His heart felt like it was made of glass and would shatter at any moment. "She can't be dead!" he shouted. "No! No! No! No! No! I'd never let Masaki die! Didn't I warn her? Didn't I try to save her?"

With precise gentleness, the beautiful woman put both of her hands on Sousuke's shoulders to try and calm him. Her ocean-colored eyes looked right into him. "You did," she told him earnestly. "You did the best you could to try to save her. You knew that her first-born child would cause her death so you enlisted a Hollow to take the boy as far away from her as possible."

"I tried to kidnap 'Saki's kid, my own nephew? How could I do that? Why didn't I just warn her?"

"After she left you on the streets," she continued. "After you got swept up in that horrible orphanage, you weren't speaking to her. So you did the only thing you could think of."

The news that he had been in an orphanage and refused to speak to his beloved sister was just two more details to the massive revelation that Sousuke had to somehow wrap his mind around. And there was so much more that was still left to be explained. "But… Masaki died anyways," he said. "So my plan didn't work."

"You hired a Hollow named Grand Fisher to do the job for you," Kyouka Suigetsu said. "But when he went to abduct the child, your sister intervened. She was trying to protect her son. Grand Fisher killed her."

The little boy's brown eyes grew wide as saucers with terror as the weight of this woman's story sunk in. He had fulfilled the fortuneteller's prediction himself. He had caused Masaki's death. A feeling of revulsion so strong he felt like he might vomit swept through Sousuke's body. This must be why he had been punished, but being a child again seemed too kind. He deserved to be dead. How could Momo stand to have him in her home? Did she know what he'd done? As disgusted with himself as he was, though, there was also a tiny seed of curiosity inside him that was slowly growing. If Masaki's fortune had come true, had his come true as well? Had he been a king? Or was that still yet to come?

"Miss Kyouka Suigetsu," he said softly. "You know so much about my life and who I was… all the stuff I can't remember. I want you to tell me everything."

To be continued…


	11. Chapter 11

Free Talk- Wow, it's been so long since I last updated that I feel kind of embarrassed. Very embarrassed, actually. My only excuse is that I just haven't been inspired. Real life has me working all week and feeling utterly uninspired on the weekends. Unfortunately, that means that the next chapter will probably be a long time coming, too. The last few chapters I know I want to be really good and exciting, so I want to bring my "A game" to writing them. But that's just not happening these days. I am not happy about it. I hope people haven't totally given up and will still read this new chapter (and like it). Thank you so much for being patient and for all the wonderful feedback on this story.**  
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**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

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Chapter 11: Searching

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"Wake up, Renji! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" The words spilling from Momo's lips as she shook her unconscious friend by the shoulders had a life of their own. 

_He's gone! He's gone! He's gone!_

The thoughts that never made it out of her head were even more panicked, pulsing to the rhythm of her pounding heart. No matter how vigorously she shook Renji, he wouldn't wake up. His body was like a sack of wet sand and her fruitless efforts were driving her fear to the limits.

_Dammit! His eyelids won't even twitch! What do I do? Every second I waste, something terrible could be happening to Sousuke! Should I just leave Renji here and go look for him? But Renji must know something… I know! I'll splash some cold water on his face! I've seen people do that to wake somebody up before._

Abandoning her limp friend, Momo scurried to the kitchen to fetch what she needed. Her brain was so clogged with terror that her familiar kitchen was now somehow a maze of cabinets and draws, the contents of which she couldn't seem to remember. She had to open and close three different cabinets before she found a glass. Her hands trembled as she filled it up with cold water from the tap and continued to as she rushed it back out to the living room. Nearly half spilled out onto her floor. She didn't care, however, and she certainly wasn't concerned with politeness as she tossed the liquid across Renji's face with a single swing of the wrist.

"Whuh? Huh? What?" the redhead blurted out in a sudden and disoriented state of consciousness. His eyes were wide open but it took a moment for him to stitch his mind together and ask what was going on. "Momo… you're back. What… what happened?"

"Sousuke's gone!" Momo tried to control her voice somewhat, so that Renji wouldn't think she was mad at him, but she could hear for herself just how scared she was. "I came home from Kurosaki Ichigo's house and found you passed out on the floor and Sousuke missing. What happened while I was gone? What's the last thing you remember?"

Renji sat up and rubbed his tattooed forehead as he answered. "Me an' the kid had just finished playin' pirates and I was gonna head him a story. He got me a glass of water and the last thing I remember was drinking it… Ah man! You don't think the brat coulda drugged me? Do ya?"

A tiny gasp squeaked from Momo's throat. Her brain suddenly recalled an empty space on her pantry shelf, an image she had subconsciously stored during her kitchen raid. "He must have used the sleeping powder!"

"Sleeping powder?" Renji exclaimed. "Momo, what are you doing with drugs in your pantry? That's never been your kind of thing."

"I needed it," Momo answered, carefully avoiding eye contact with her friend. "After Aizen left… I couldn't sleep for weeks. Captain Unohana gave me that stuff to help… But that's not important right now!" She had snapped back to urgent attention. "If Sousuke drugged you, that means that he must have left on his own. He wasn't kidnapped."

"Why would the kid wanna leave?" Renji asked. "From the looks of it, he's got himself a pretty sweet deal shaking up here with you."

Momo had only been pondering the situation for a few seconds when a devious grin infiltrated her thoughts. "Ichimaru!" she gasped. "The other day, when we were at the courthouse, Sousuke got away from me for a just a few minutes and he ran into Ichimaru. I know that nasty sneak said something to him. I know it! That villain! He must have said something that convinced Sousuke to run away… Maybe he told him he's a bad boy and…"

As Momo's worried words trailed off, Renji added in a few of his own thoughts. "Momo, you need to calm down. You should stop and listen to what you're saying. That kid isn't the little saint that you seem to think he is. Remember, this is the same guy who tried to kill you and left you so shattered you couldn't even sleep."

"No," Momo snapped defensively. "My Sousuke hasn't done any of those things yet. He's a good, sweet boy who's just a little rambunctious… not the evil overlord Aizen that everyone thinks he is!"

"But Sousuke _is_ Aizen," Renji reminded. "He still has the capacity to do all those horrible things. You say that Ichimaru is a villain, but he took all his orders from Aizen, your Sousuke."

The young man's words were a strike of enlightenment to Momo, and without a single word, she headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Renji hollered.

"To the courthouse," she called back. "You just gave me an idea of how I can talk to Ichimaru and get him to dish out some answers."

"What? I did?" Renji asked in confusion. "You know, it's the middle of the night right now. The courthouse isn't even open."

Momo didn't respond to his comments and kept on walking.

"Hey! Wait up! I'm coming with you," he yelled, scrambling to his feet, still wobbly from the aftereffects of the drug, and running after her as best as he could.

During the journey from Momo's apartment to the Soul Society courthouse, Renji said nothing to Momo and she said nothing to him. She could hear his steady footsteps behind her the whole time, however, and it was calming to know that she would have a friend with her when she confronted Ichimaru. Whether or not he truly agreed with her plan was not important.

Standing beside the main entrance to the courthouse was a single sentry, already half asleep. Momo approached him without hesitation. She had gotten past Soul Society guards before. She could do it again. And breaking into a holding cell couldn't be any harder than breaking out of one. With a quick, strong tap on the shoulder, she soon had the guard's full attention.

"Ah, Vice Captain Hinamori," he greeted, a hint of sleepiness still in his voice. "What brings you here so late at…" Momo's kidou hypnotized the man before his sentence was even finished and he slid to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Jeez, I hope I didn't look like such a sap when I passed out," Renji commented softly.

"I guess it's good that the only person who saw it was the little boy who drugged you," Momo replied. She was trying to keep a sense of humor through the terrifying ordeal. "Now, I'm going to go inside and find Ichimaru, and I will use that same kidou on anyone else who gets in my way. Renji, you don't have to come any further if you don't want to risk getting in serious trouble."

"Naw," he said with a shrug. "I've come this far. Besides, I've been involved in worse trouble than this."

Momo hadn't been exaggerating her plans. Once inside the building, she immobilized one guard who was patrolling the hallways and the two who were standing watch outside of Ichimaru's cell. The prisoner watched her perform the illegal techniques from behind the bars, completely unperturbed, almost as if he were expecting her arrival.

"Hello, Miss Hinamori," he said as the second guard drop to the floor. "And I see you brought your friend Mr. Abarai with you, a wise choice. You know it's not safe for a woman to be out alone in the middle of the night."

Gin's coyly condescending words made the blood in Momo's veins boil and she lunged at him with a tenacity she'd never displayed before. "Where is he, you son of a bitch?" she roared, wringing the bars with both fists. "You did this! I know you did! Where is he?"

"Whomever are you talking about?" he asked with mock innocence.

"You know who I'm talking about!" she spat. "Sousuke is gone! And I know you already know it because I know you had something to do with it! You said something to him that made him leave! What? And… and why?"

"What makes you think it was something _I _did?" he asked. "Have you considered the possibility that the kid just doesn't like you and doesn't want to live with you?" Gin paused and paced thoughtfully in a small circle, driving Momo mad with impatience. On closer inspection, she could see the sheen of perspiration coating his skin.

"Okay, I've had enough of your shit, Gin!" she stammered, using his first name for the first time ever. "I can tell that you're sweating. You're very nervous right now. So just tell me what happened to Sousuke, 'cause I can guarantee you that I will find out one way or another!"

"Hmmm…" Gin's snakelike grin widened and he leaned in close to Momo. "You've really grown fond of that little brat, haven't you Momo? Or are these still your residual feelings for the man he once was?"

The distinctive sting of encroaching tears was now biting at the corners of Momo's eyes. Ichimaru still had a very wicked mastery of language, but she was not going to let him put her heart in doubt. Tonight she would have to show off her own way with words. She threaded one hand between the prison bars and grabbed hold of Gin's kimono before he could pull away. Then she dragged him down to her eye level and stared into his inscrutable slit eyes.

"Listen to me," she said, jaw clenched, lips trembling. "I love that little boy and I loved the man he was and the man he will be. His soul may have been corrupted, but there was good in there all along. You know what I'm talking about, Gin. He was your Captain too once. It doesn't matter if your motives were good or evil, you trusted that man. You risked your life for him and put your fate in his hands."

"What is your point?" Gin asked impatiently.

"You must have gotten something out of that relationship," Momo continued. Her voice cracked slightly as she said it and her eyes were wet. "On some level, I know you care about him, too. You… you should care about what happens to him. If he's in danger because if you… You can save him! Please, Gin! Think about everything he's done for you. Look inside your heart and do the right thing. He… he was your Captain too…"

Momo's speech came to an end just in time, as her sniffled back tears were threatening to render her words completely incoherent. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself with deep breaths as Gin filled the pause with tense silence. She couldn't tell if his reticence was because she had reached him or if he was callously ignoring her. Several minutes passed without any response and she realized he wasn't going to say anything else and she would need to think of another tactic.

"You don't even…" she began to say.

"On the streets of Rukongai," he interrupted, surprising her. "I was in one of the nicer neighborhoods scouting for folks to steal from, so Ran and I could have something to eat that day… He was there. Aizen, he was visiting or something. He wasn't dressed up like shinigami or anything. I just thought he was some rich guy, a good target."

"You mugged Aizen?" Momo asked in a tiny voice.

"I tried to," Gin continued. He was pacing in his cell again, and when he changed directions Momo could see that his smile was different than it had been before. It wasn't cruel, but nostalgic. "I tried to steal the sack of money that he had hanging from his belt. Got it loose, had it in my hand… And just when I was about to get away with it, he spun around and caught my wrist. His technique was so fast I never saw it coming. I think he knew I was trying to rob him the whole time, but was waiting for the right moment to react."

Momo was now very engrossed in his story and was already contemplating what Aizen had done to the young thief. Did he respond like the Captain she remembered? Like the little brat he had lurking deep inside? Or like the villain that everyone else saw him as? "What did he do?"

"I was terrified," said Gin. "He looked down at me with such an intense stare that it made my legs buckle and I fell to my knees. But then his expression softened. He smiled at me and he told me he was impressed. Nobody had ever come so close to robbing him and my stealth was really remarkable. Then he handed me the sack of money and said it was my reward for catching him off guard. The last thing he told me was that I should seriously consider becoming a Shinigami."

A smile had spread across Momo's lips without her even realizing it. "I think you must have reminded him of his younger days. He was something of pickpocket himself when he was a boy on the street. He must have felt a connection to you. He understood you…"

The sound of Gin's pacing stopped. Momo looked up at him, and through those little slit eyes he looked back at her. Then, for just an instant, she saw two slivers of crimson, his true eyes. "Didn't he ever tell you about his past?" she asked softly. Gin turned his back to her and a protracted silence followed.

"He's in Hueco Mundo," the prisoner finally said. "Aizen is. The remnants of his army, the surviving Arrancar, they've been planning something. The only thing left that they still need is him, so I delivered him."

"What the Hell? Surviving Arrancar?" Renji roared. "And how did you deliver 'im from behind bars?"

Up to that point, the redhead had been a silent observer of everything that was happening, so silent that Momo had forgotten he was with her. Now his presence was very clear. His hands snapped to his side and clutched at the handle of Zabimaru as he yelled.

"Aizen's whole palace was demolished! All the Arrancar were killed! By us! This… this is BULLSHIT!"

"Nnn… Say whatever you want," Gin replied, a tiny hint of malice flavoring his voice again. "Your mission was ultimately a failure. You, and Kuchiki, and that human boy and his friends… you didn't eradicate the Arrancar or their plans. A handful survived and they have been waiting for their Master to return… And now he has… And in case you were wondering, I knew there was someone from his past that he cared about and used it to lure him…"

"Lying bastard!" Renji growled, as he began to tug his blade from its scabbard.

Momo caught his arm and stopped him before the sword was unsheathed. "Wait, Renji. I think he's telling the truth." Then she turned to Gin. "Ichimaru, I want you to turn around and look at me… Look me in the eyes… and tell me how to get to Hueco Mundo."

It took few minutes, but Gin did eventually comply and turned around. His eyes looked different to Momo. He hadn't been crying. Ichimaru was not the crying type. But there was some vague trace of emotion there on his face. "Alright," he said. "I will tell you how to get to Hueco Mundo…"

Both Momo and Renji remained silent as they took in every detail of the procedure for entering Aizen's former kingdom. After he'd finished, the two friends looked at each other.

"It'll be dangerous," Renji said seriously. "I think Rukia and Ichigo should come with us. They're still in the human world, though. We'll have to go and get them before we leave…"

"You go get them," Momo said. "Go get them as fast as you can and meet me in Hueco Mundo."

"You're going by yourself?" Renji asked with urgency. "Momo, I don't think you understand just how tough these guys are. They'll kill ya six times before…"

"I understand the risks," she sternly interrupted. "I'm going anyway. I won't waste any more time. Sousuke could be hurt. He could be scared and crying. I'm going to get him back, and I'm leaving right now."

To be continued…


	12. Chapter 12

Free Talk- This chapter starts off with a lot of back and forth talking between Sousuke and Kyouka Suigetsu, which I hope is not too boring. The last quarter of the chapter, however, sets things up for the big climax that will take place in the next chapter. So there are two more chapters, I think, the climax and the resolution. I hope I do an okay job on them. Lately I feel like my spark has been gone (which is also why I have been writing so slowly). Oh, and don't go thinking that Ichimaru is totally reformed. He's still a cheeky bastard, even if he did help Momo last time around. Anyway, sorry it took so long. Thanks for the support, as always. Two more chapters to go! Please tell me what you think. EDIT- Thanks to a helpful hint from** Poe's Raven**, the word "throne" is now spelled correctly! I think I got all of 'em... (Yes, I am a college graduate)**  
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**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

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Chapter 12: Catching Up

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Sousuke sat with his legs folded, the rest of his body leaning forward, as if this posture would help him absorb Kyouka Suigetsu's words more deeply. The beautiful woman seated in front of him, with pale green eyes and shimmering hair, was about to tell him the life he had already lived and lost. He watched with taut anticipation as she adjusted the thin layers of cloth that floated around her and cleared her throat with a tiny cough. 

"Come on! Come on!" he whined. "I gotta know what kind of guy I am… or was…"

"Well," the woman began. "Everything up to the day before you woke up in the courthouse happened exactly as you remember. The way things really happened, though, nobody came to rescue you from the street and adopt you."

"You said something about an orphanage," Sousuke mentioned.

"That's right," Kyouka Suigetsu confirmed. "It happened when you were seven years old. You were still making your meager living as a pickpocket and you happened to target the wrong man. He seemed like an easy mark, a wealthy young man with white hair. You had no way of knowing that he was a Shinigami until he caught you by the wrist right when you were reaching for his money. That Shinigami turned you in to the East Rukongai Orphanage."

The boy's lips curled down into a frown. "Didn't Sis try to bust me out? We always said we'd never let each other end up in some stupid orphanage."

The zanpakutou spirit shook her head. "By that time, you hadn't spoken to your sister in two years. The day that you went to the fortuneteller was the last time you ever spoke to Masaki."

Sousuke could feel his lower lip and lower eyelids twitching. The news was not completely shocking given the horrifying circumstances of his twin's death, which he had learned just minutes before. Still, hearing about Masaki's sudden disappearance from his life made Sousuke's heart ache. "Why?" he asked, pain coming through in his voice. "Why did Masaki stop coming to see me? How could she forget about me?"

"Whether or not she forgot about you, Sousuke, I cannot say. I know that her newfound family had a very unfavorable opinion of you, thought you were a bad influence on their precious daughter. They would not allow her to visit you on the street or in the orphanage."

"Bad influence!" the boy protested. "All the bad stuff I know I learned from 'Saki! She was the best at it! And… and even if her new folks said she couldn't see me, I know she would do it anyways! 'Saki would!"

Kyouka Suigetsu closed her eyes and bowed her head, shook it slightly as she responded. "I cannot see into your sister's heart, Sousuke, only yours. I do not know why she chose to obey her new family and stay away from you. But I do know how you felt when she never came to see you again. I know how abandoned you felt, alone and vulnerable. The other kids were even more abusive towards you once your protector was out of the picture."

"You mean I got beat up?" Sousuke asked, feeling slightly embarrassed. "So, did I learn how to fight back and kick all their butts?"

The woman smiled subtly. "You did learn how to fight, quite well in fact. You took your anger and frustration over missing your sister and used it to fuel your fighting. You were starting to earn the respect of the other street kids when they threw you in the orphanage, where your every move was monitored and violent behavior was always punished. That strict discipline crushed your spirit and you became increasingly bitter. More than anything, you hated the glasses they forced you to wear to correct your vision."

"Hated my glasses?" Sousuke wailed, clutching the sides of his oversized frames. "But Momo gave me these! I could never…" A knowing tilt of the head from his zanpakutou calmed him down and cleared his mind. "Oh right… These aren't the same glasses."

"No," Kyouka Suigetsu said. "The glasses you wear now are not the ones the orphanage forced on you. Those glasses that they gave you were a symbol of the loss of your freedom, a collar to go with your cage. And the kids ostracized you even more because of them."

"I didn't realize they were so bad," Sousuke said. He was still fingering the sides of his frames, unable to clearly separate these glasses from those that he allegedly hated.

"They weren't entirely bad," the zanpakutou replied. "There was one good thing that came from those glasses, Sousuke. When you wore them, people listened to you in a way they never had before, and that's how you discovered they incredible power of your words. Yes, you could fight if you had to, but now you could talk your way out of any problem so you didn't have to. You could get other people to do whatever you wanted to just with the things you said to them. Once you realized you could do anything, you became fearless. And you soon realized that this was the power that would make your fortune come true. This is how you would become a King."

"King…" Sousuke's breath echoed the last word of the woman's statement, the word that suddenly had him very excited. "So I did become a King?" he asked eagerly. "Did I have a crown? And one of those gold sticks with lotsa jewels all over it? And a throne?"

A light, bubbly giggle escaped Kyouka Suigetsu's lips from behind a delicate white hand. "No crown, and no scepter, the gold stick with jewels. But you did have a thrown, right here in this palace."

"This place ain't no palace!" the boy snorted. "It's just a pile of rubble! With jail cages!"

"It used to be a palace," she told him. "It used to be _your_ palace. It wasn't easy for you to get here, though. You began your journey towards domination down the path of a Shinigami. You worked your way through the Academy, always at the top of your classes. All the while, you were planning your ascent, making alliances, manipulating your colleagues, waiting for the day when you would rule over all Shinigami, Hollows, and humans. But at the same time as you were working on making your fortune come true, you were also thinking of how to prevent your sister's from coming true."

A sick, heavy feeling filled up Sousuke's little belly. He had already heard this part of the story once. "I… You don't have to tell me that part again, Miss Kyouka Suigetsu," he said. "You already said how I caused Masaki's death… how I tried to kidnap my nephew, and Masaki…" The rest of his sentence was choked off by tears that he couldn't control.

With stylish grace and without making a sound, Kyouka Suigetsu moved closer to her young master and brushed a stray tear from his cheek with a gentle knuckle. "I know that it is painful for you to hear, Sousuke, but this is the truth of the life you lived. You did not mean for your sister to die. After the incident, you contemplated abandoning your plan for domination. Only briefly, however. Masaki's death had brought to fruition the predictions of that fortuneteller years before, and you were even more convinced that your destiny was to sit in the highest thrown in Heaven. So you carried on with your plans and labeled Masaki's death a necessary sacrifice."

"How did I do it?" he whimpered.

"You were the mastermind," the lady told him. "But you had help, had allies. Chief among them was Ichimaru Gin."

"Itchy-maru was my friend?" the boy spat incredulously. "But he's so creepy!"

"He was your willing servant," Kyouka Suigetsu clarified. "As was another Shinigami, a blind man named Tousen Kaname, who took his own life rather than letting himself be captured. There were also the Arrancar, such as Grimmjow. You gave life to him and his brethren, born from the Hollows you consorted with. And, there were others…"

"Others?"

"There were individuals who helped you without ever agreeing to it. With your intellect and charisma, you were able to manipulate the younger Shinigami around you into helping your eventual rise to power while maintaining your pristine image. Abarai Renji, Kira Izuru… and Hinamori Momo were amongst your pawns."

Sousuke's blood turned ice cold. "Momo?" he uttered. "I… used Momo? I manipulated her?"

His zanpakutou sighed. "It is true. Momo was once your Vice Captain, when you were the Captain of the 5th Division of the Gotei 13. She was the easiest to manipulate of all your servants because the front you assumed was so charming and noble that she came to love you very deeply. She would do anything for you."

The boy remained silent in contemplation. As strange as it was to try to picture himself as a grown man, carefully plotting his rise to power, it was even stranger to imagine Momo being subservient to him. Momo, who scolded him and bathed him and put him to bed. The thought of that Momo taking orders from him bizarre, though he had to admit, a bit thrilling as well.

"So did I take Momo with me to this place? When I left Soul Society?" There was eagerness in his voice.

"Only your two co-conspirators came with you, and they only came because they were still useful to you. When Momo was no longer of any use to you, you left her behind."

"But! But!" he protested. "But I lo… I like Momo! Wouldn't I want her to come just 'cause she's nice and fun?"

"You didn't feel that way about her then," she answered. "After what happened with your sister, you decided it was an unnecessary risk to become emotionally attached to any of your pawns, especially since any one of them might have to be sacrificed at any time during your plan. You chose not to care about anybody but yourself, not even Momo. Besides, she really didn't know anything about you. It was the false self you projected that she loved, the calm man smiling kindly from behind those glasses you despised. She never cared about the real you."

"Oh…" Sousuke's response was hollow.

"After you met me, you never really needed those glasses again," she volunteered. "Yes, after you and I first met, when you were still at the Academy, our partnership was the only one that really mattered. I was the only one you really needed, the only one whose devotion to you was absolute. Even Ichimaru had other loyalties. It was you and I alone who engineered your victory."

Sousuke listened intently as Kyouka Suigetsu described his plan in detail. She explained Hogyouku to him and told him how he had faked his own death in order to throw Soul Society into chaos and steal it for himself. She described how he fled to Hueco Mundo and created the Arrancar. But she didn't mention any more about Momo. Her part in the story, in Sousuke's life, was over. She was completely dispensable.

A lump formed in Sousuke's throat. Momo had been in his life, had been his Vice Captain, had been so close to him, and he hadn't cared about her at all. He hadn't cared about anyone, for that mattered, except for himself. That is how he got to be great and powerful. And yet, he wasn't unstoppable. Something had happened that had landed him in the body and mind of a child. "What happened?" he asked. "How come I'm not a King anymore?"

"Well, you weren't exactly a king before," the pretty lady said thoughtfully. "You were more of a prince, on your way to becoming King. You had amassed a great army of Arrancar and were poised to take the final step, assassinate the King of Soul Society and take your rightful place. But you got caught."

"Yeah," Sousuke said with his nose wrinkled. "If I was so great, how did I get caught?"

"As unlikely as it may sound, the one who toppled you was none other than the nephew that you once tried to kidnap," the zanpakutou informed. "The same boy who complicated your rebellion in Soul Society. He led his friends against you and your army and brought about your downfall."

"As revenge for what happened to Masaki!" the boy exclaimed. "He musta been planning it for years!"

Kyouka Suigetsu chuckled daintily. "Actually, he had no idea that you had a role in his mother's death. He didn't even know that you were related. He probably still doesn't know. No, your nephew, Kurosaki Ichigo, was convinced that your vision of the future was 'evil.' Just like all of Soul Society, he was determined to go along with the old regime and fight tooth and nail against the change you could bring. His invasion of your palace was merely hastened by the fact that you had borrowed one of his young friends in order to benefit from her talents."

"So it was 'cause I kidnapped his friend? Not 'cause I killed his mommy?"

"That's a simple way of looking at it," said the zanpakutou. "Just the sort of outlook a child would take. Of course, it was due to that boy's distorted view of things that you were brought back to Soul Society for a trial instead of killed on the spot."

"And the judge sentenced me to be little again?" Sousuke asked in bafflement. He had already heard it said, but it was tough to wrap his little mind around it. After all, he didn't remember any of the things Kyouka Suigetsu had told him about, up to and including his supposedly famous trial. One thing did not fit in, though. "Wait… How come I went to live with Momo? If I just pushed her away…"

"Ah yes," she said. "Hinamori Momo does make one more appearance in your life story. It is thanks to her that you were not sentenced to death. It was Momo's pleas that swayed the judge to instead change you back to a more innocent age."

"Why would she want that?"

"She wanted a chance to mold you into the man you pretended to be, to raise you up to be the fake Sousuke that she adored. She even put you back in those glasses. Though she did save your life, her motives for saving you were completely selfish."

A strange wave of anger suddenly washed over Sousuke, but he couldn't tell whom it was directed at. Was he mad at Miss Kyouka Suigetsu for suggesting that Momo wanted to turn him into someone who he wasn't? Or was he mad at Momo because deep down he believed that it was true? Was Momo really like that? It was hard not to believe the zanpakutou. Her eyes contained no trace of deception. His little fists scrunched the hem of his kimono, which Momo had bought for him.

Now the beautiful woman finally got up from her spot and walked over to him, wrapped her arms, draped in gossamer cloth, around his body. "Are you going to be alright, Sousuke?"

"I dunno!" he spat. "It's hard ta know what to do. You… you just told me all this stuff… I killed sis! And I tricked everyone and lied to 'em! And everybody else thinks I'm a bad guy… It sounds like I'm a bad guy! Maybe I deserved to get kidnapped and locked up!"

"Don't say that!" Kyouka Suigetsu scolded, squeezing her master a bit tighter. "You did what you had to do to become powerful. And these surviving Arrancar haven't brought you here as punishment. They have brought you here so that you can become the King you were meant to be, so you can achieve your destiny! Right now they are no doubt determining how to return you to your body, and return you to power. You can be a King, Sousuke. Here you can have a life you could never have in Soul Society with that girl. And you can change the world."

Sousuke shrank, thoughtfully. "So, you're saying I should go along with what this people say?"

"I am saying that you should think about your future," she said softly in his ear. "Think about your future and decide how you want it to be, and I will help you make that future a reality."

"But if I stay here, I'll never see Momo again," he said.

"Perhaps it's better that way."

"Maybe…" Sousuke sighed. The feel of this woman's arms around him was growing more and more soothing and he let himself melt against her. Everything she said, he believed. Her clear, guileless eyes could not lie to him. And she knew so much. A small gasp snorted into the boys nose and his eyes shot open as an old question reentered his mind. "Miss Kyouka," he asked urgently, turning his neck to look at her face. "Miss Kyouka, you must know who stabbed Momo and gave her a big scar. Who did that to her?"

For the first time since she'd introduced herself to the boy, Kyouka Suigetsu appeared unsure of what she was going to say. The stunned look lasted only a moment before she closed her eyes and drew in a deep, silent breath. "I'm afraid I do not know the answer to your question, my Sousuke."

That was all she said, but the way she said it was somehow different from everything else she had told him. It was the only thing Kyouka Suigetsu said that Sousuke had difficulty believing. But he decided it wouldn't be wise to accuse her of lying. After all, maybe she really didn't know who hurt Momo. And if he was never going to see Momo again and be a great and ruthless King, Sousuke would have to stop thinking about her. He snuggled deeper into the warm arms that held him and barely felt it when the delicate hands removed his glasses.

As if he had been hypnotized, Sousuke's mind slowly drained of all thoughts about Momo and thoughts about Masaki. The only woman in his world was the one enveloping him like mist, inducing him into a deep dreamless sleep.

When he woke up, the beautiful lady was gone, but the sword that bore her name was right there in his arms.

It was the sound of footsteps that had awoken him. They were still far off, but growing louder. Sousuke rubbed his eyes with groggy, clumsy fists to remove the lingering sleepiness. Something was different when he looked around. Everything was perfectly clear, even though his glasses were folded up next to him. He snatched them up and put them on his face as quick as he could. There was no difference whether they were on or off. The footsteps were getting louder.

"Hey lady!" he stammered, picking up the sword he'd been sleeping with and shaking it vigorously. "Miss Kyouka Suigetsu! Wake up! Someone's coming! And… and something's wrong with my eyes! What did you do? Was it you?"

The sword didn't change.

The footsteps came right up to the outside of the cell door and stopped. There was a small pause before the door began to open and Sousuke's heart began to speed up. Light spilled into his little prison, and framed within it was a dark silhouette, too short and gangly to be Grimmjow. This Arrancar had pale blond hair, slumping posture, and a vacant expression on his face.

"You… come," he grunted, gesturing towards Sousuke. Then he reached out and grabbed the boy's wrist with a cold hand and pulled him out into the hallway.

Sousuke didn't hesitate to walk along with the gawky escort. He could feel his hand growing slick and sweaty as he clutched his zanpakutou. Everything she had told him yesterday was rolling around in his head, churning just below the conscious level. He tucked the blade into his sash and moved his hand up to finger the earpiece of his glasses. Despite them being a symbol of his oppressive life in an orphanage, and despite the fact that he didn't even need them anymore, Sousuke couldn't take them off.

The blond Arrancar pulled him through the halls of the rundown palace, turning down various corridors and eventually leading him out onto a marble ledge overlooking an immense chamber. Sections of the roof and walls had been decimated into rubble and a sickly grey morning light bathed the arena. In the center of the ledge, between two massive black pillars, Sousuke spotted a large white throne. Seated in it was the blue-haired Grimmjow, beckoning him forward with his one arm.

"Ah, you brought him just like I asked," Grimmjow said to the blond Arrancar. "Good job, Wanderweiss. You're not as dumb as you look. Now, come forward, boy."

Sousuke stepped up to the seat with steely determination. It was time to be the ruthless King he was born to be.

"Get outta my throne!" he demanded, starring into Grimmjow's icy eyes.

"What did you just say?" the Arrancar answered, wearing a smile that bordered on laughter.

"I created you," Sousuke replied forcefully. "I am your master, Grimmjow Jaguarjack. You brought me here to be your leader once again, and that's what I'm gonna do. Now get out of MY THRONE!"

Grimmjow's face puckered into a most defiant scowl as he shifted in his spot and began to climb out of stone seat, but he didn't say anything. Sousuke maintained his stare, even when the blond Arrancar, the one called Wanderweiss, broke out in obnoxious, cackling laughter.

"Shut the Hell up, ya freakin' halfwit!" Grimmjow barked, smacking down a tight fist on the top of his cohort's skull. The laughter continued and more pummeling followed.

Sousuke wasn't paying much attention to the ruckus. He was climbing proudly into his vacated throne, which took a bit of effort as it was not exactly made for a five-year old. When he was settled into the oversized seat, he decided to bring his subordinates to order. "Hey! Stop fighting you big dummies!"

The Arrancar stopped immediately and composed themselves in front of him, though Wanderweiss was still snorting a little under his breath. Grimmjow grinned and stepped closer to Sousuke's throne.

"Master Aizen," he addressed, "there still are a few issues to be resolved before you can truly take control again and start rebuilding your army. You still possess the body and mind of a child. In order for you to be our King, you must regain your body."

"Oh," the boy said, losing a bit of his regal air. "Well… how do I do that?"

Grimmjow continued to smile and his eyes narrowed. "We've been doing a lot of research on this spell that was used against you," he said. "It seems all you have to do to return yourself to an adult is to decide in your heart exactly what kind of man you're going to be."

"What?" Sousuke snapped. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! That's so easy! And besides, I already decided. I'm going to be the King! Of Soul Society, the Human World, and this place! I should be turned back into a grown-up already!"

"Ah, but you're not turned back," Grimmjow said smugly, leaning in closer to the boy. "You're still just a useless pipsqueak, _Master_. There's something that's holding you back, something keeping you from committing your whole heart to the life you once had. It's the girl."

Sousuke frowned. "You mean dumb ol' Momo? I don't care about her. Kyouka Suigetsu… that's my sword… she said that Momo just wants to turn me into some smiling lame-o who follows all the rules and acts all polite. I'm never going to go back to her! I… I hate her!"

"Hmmm…" Grimmjow scratched his chin. "Your words sound sincere, but I think action is in order for you to really break free. It's time to test your conviction, Master Aizen."

"What are you talking about?" Sousuke asked nervously.

"Well… I've recently been informed of a detected breach into Hueco Mundo. It seems a pretty young Shinigami has found her way to our realm. But don't worry about it, security personnel have already been sent to intercept her and will be bringing her to the palace shortly."

"Momo is here?" Sousuke gasped. He could feel his heart beating funny in his throat. "What… what are you gonna do to her? You're not gonna hurt her, are you?"

"Not me," Grimmjow answered coyly. "You, Master. You're going to get your body back by killing Hinamori Momo."

To be continued…


	13. Chapter 13

Free Talk- Okay, firstly: Thank You! Thank you all so much for all of the support for this story! I can't believe it has gotten over 100 reviews! That really means so much to me. On to the penultimate chapter... the first chapter to have both Momo's and Sousuke's points of view. Not at the same time, though. It switches in the middle. I hope that it isn't an awkward transition, but this chapter really demanded both protagonists' POV. Just one more left to write. I'm a little sad for it to end, but I wouldn't want it to drag on too long either. Maybe I will scan some of my little Sousuke drawings and put a link to them in the last chapter. Anyways, I hope everyone likes the climax. Please tell me what you think!**  
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**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

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Chapter 13: Deciding Your Destiny

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"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!" 

Precise application of Ichimaru's instructions had immediately whisked Momo away from Soul Society and deposited her in Hueco Mundo. It was not a smooth landing, however, as she had materialized in the middle of a vast briar patch of crystal thorns that tore her clothes and cut into her skin. The more she struggled to free herself, the more they dug into her flesh and hurt her.

"Ow! The filthy little snake!" she grumbled to herself, imagining Gin howling with laughter back in his cell. "He's still a creep after all! Err… I can't waste any time here. I'll need Tobiume's help." She managed to move her arm through the piercing quartz, wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her zanpakutou and yanked it from its sheath. "Snap, Tobiume!"

The released blade flickered with crimson flames as Momo swung it effortlessly through the thorns, decimating them to a pile of sparkling shards. Gin's twisted sense of humor wouldn't be enough to hinder her, not when the most important person in her life was missing and quite possibly in grave danger. _Hang on, Sousuke_, she thought to herself. _I'm coming to you. I won't rest until you're safe._

Now that she was free from the brambles, Momo tucked her blade back in its sheath and took in a full panoramic view of Hueco Mundo. She hadn't imagined it would be so utterly bleak. The landscape was flat, without any signs of life or water. A yellowish grey sky gave no indication of what time of day it was and Momo wondered if time really had the same meaning here. On the very edge of the horizon she spotted a tiny white bump, the indication of a faraway structure.

"That's the only possible evidence of civilization," she uttered. "So that's where I'll head."

Inside her head, she was cursing Ichimaru again. As if the thorns hadn't been enough, he had to drop her down miles away from her goal. But Momo's determination was strong and the atmosphere was thick with spirit energy, which she drank in with each breath as she ran towards her tentative goal.

The white bump very slowly started to grow larger in the distance and, as it began to grow clearer, Momo could see that it was a palace. Her legs churned harder. That had to be where Sousuke was being held. This mad dash came to a dusty, skidding stop, however, with the sudden appearance of two figures on the Shinigami's path in front of her.

"Well, 'ello there," said the first one, who seemed to be female. "Don't see many Shinigami here in Hueco Mundo," said her male counterpart." Both of them grinned deviously at Momo, who stood cautiously still.

"You're Arrancar, aren't you?" she asked, although she already knew that they were. The holes in their chests and the fragments of their masks still clinging to their faces gave away their previous existence as Hollows. These two looked rather shabby and battle scarred.

"Ah, so you recognize us, then?" said the male Arrancar. "I thought you'd be more surprised. After all, you Shinigami boldly claim to have killed all of us."

"Yeah, well I know better," Momo huffed. She was in no mood to listen to these arrogant grunts ramble. They were only useful if they could help her get to Sousuke. "Let's cut to the chase," she growled. "I think you know why I am here."

"The boy," the female Arrancar answered coyly.

"That's right," Momo said fiercely. "I know you've got Sousuke somewhere in this miserable place, and if you're not going to help me get to him, I'll kill you!" She brandished Tobiume.

"You don't waste any time, do you?" asked the Arrancar girl. "So you really think you could take both of us on?"

"You bet I could!" Momo roared.

"Well, It won't come to that," the Arrancar continued. "Because you're going to put your sword away and come with us."

"Why the Hell would I do that?" spat Momo.

The male Arrancar leaned in towards her. "If ya don't come with us, our comrades'll kill that little boy."

"Your kind would never hurt Aizen Sousuke," Momo insisted. "He created you. Ichimaru Gin told me about the plan, that you brought him back to be your leader again."

"But what makes you believe he's telling the truth?" questioned the female. "After all, Ichimaru isn't exactly known for his honesty."

A sick feeling snared Momo's chest. There had been doubt lingering inside her this whole time and now that she was being reminded of it, it felt more potent than ever. Yes, Gin had said that the Arrancar wanted to reinstate Aizen as their leader, but he hadn't provided any proof, any evidence at all. These creatures had been his minions. He had been their leader. They were virtually eradicated, and he was allowed to walk free, albeit in the body of a five-year old. There were a million horrible things that they could be planning for Sousuke, and Momo knew it. Now it seemed they had plans for her as well.

"So are yeh gonna come with us?" the male Arrancar asked.

Momo drew back her sword, but his next statement stopped her from swinging it.

"If it'll ease your mind, yeh can bring that thing with ya. We won't make you give it up just yet. Just remember that if you don't come with us, that cute little tyke'll get slit from 'is bellybutton to 'is chin."

"Don't let her keep her sword!" his counterpart grumbled. "Why would you let her do that?"

"It won't do her any good," he laughed back as if Momo weren't standing there. "If she tries anything funny we'll tear her to shreds. Some dinky little sword won't protect her."

"Fine. Fine," the female Arrancar sighed.

Momo took in the exchange and felt the sensation that precedes a wide grin, which she luckily was able to keep off her face. The goons clearly hadn't done their research. "Alright," she answered coldly. "I'll go with you." She would stick with them just as long as it took her to figure out where her boy was then she would dispose of them.

_If they've underestimated me so grossly based on my childish looks, I can't imagine what they think of Sousuke…_

She stepped between the two Arrancar, expecting them to restrain her in some way or at least lead her by the arms, but they didn't. They just stood for a moment, which irritated the impatient Momo, as they still had a great distance to travel. Then the female took out her own blade, causing the muscles in Momo's belly to clench uncomfortably. The Arrancar didn't strike, however, but traced the shape of a rectangle in the air in front of her. Momo watched in surprise as the outlined shape became a doorway cut into empty space, a doorway that lead to the dark interior of a wrecked white palace.

"This is the place you saw in the distance," the female Arrancar informed.

"Aw, quit showin' off yer ability to cut through space," her partner whined. "She don't care about that. Now, let's just take her to _him_ so we can get our reward."

Anxiety filled up Momo's body like liquid. She had been expecting a longer trip and more time to plan and make her move. Now she was in the palace being led to someone referred to only as 'him.' She doubted that it was Sousuke they were talking about. They wouldn't take her right to him. Then an absolutely horrifying thought crossed her mind. What if these goons were leading her to Sousuke's dead body? What if they had already done him in and just wanted to witness her absolute and inconsolable anguish before they did whatever they wanted to her. She kept her hand wrapped around Tobiume's hilt and her muscles primed, but she knew that if Sousuke was dead, killing every last Arrancar in Hueco Mundo wouldn't satisfy her.

"Almost there now," said the male Arrancar in an excited voice as he walked through a narrow corridor in front on Momo. The female was behind her, prodding her forward with the hilt-end of her sword.

"Who is this you're taking me to," Momo finally asked, deciding that even if they probably wouldn't tell her it couldn't hurt to ask.

"You'll see, you'll see," the female Arrancar said in a sinister voice.

"Our leader!" the male snorted eagerly, incurring a derisive growl from his partner, who clearly hadn't wanted to spoil the surprise.

The nature of Momo's fear continued to move and change shape. Now, instead of Sousuke's body, it was the almost certainly powerful leader of the surviving Arrancar that she was about to face. And that didn't necessarily mean that her boy was okay.

"Errr… We're going to hafta cover your face now," the female grumbled. "The floor plan from this point is top secret."

Before Momo could protest or ask any questions a thick cloth sack was thrown over her face and she felt her arm being yanked along as her feet followed clumsily. There were turns along the way, she could tell, but she lost track of how many, and she couldn't tell how far they had walked. It seemed like a long distance and yet it was over very fast.

The sack came off and the first thing in front of Momo's eyes was a very familiar scowling face.

"Sousuke!" she cried joyfully. "Sousuke! You're alive!" Without restraint she threw her arms around the small boy who was standing up on a white marble throne. To her unbelievable shock, he shoved her off of him with remarkable force and she staggered backwards. Her heart leapt into her throat as her feet discovered the ledge behind her and a strong arm grabbed her wrist to stop her from plummeting.

She glanced briefly at the sadistically smiling blue-haired Arrancar that had saved her before turning her attention back to Sousuke, whose face had a similarly cruel expression on it. "Sousuke, what's gotten into you?" she asked, extending an arm to touch him. "Who is this guy and what has he done to you? Is he the leader of the Arrancar?"

"Shut up!" he barked, eyes blazing as he smacked her hand away. "I'm the leader of the Arrancar!"

"No!" Momo cried out desperately. "These creatures have brainwashed you! You don't want to lead them! They're bad guys!"

"You're wrong!" shouted little Sousuke, his voice at maximum rage, his hands balled into tight fists. "The only one who's ever tried to brainwash me is you! You just wanna turn me into your old goody-goody Captain! But you're not gonna! I'm gonna lead these guys and everyone! All I hafta do is kill you first!"

Momo's brown eyes widened in shear horror as Sousuke yanked an enormous sword, so big it seemed impossible that he could even lift it, from his belt. She recognized immediately the zanpakutou that had confounded all of Soul Society, but the wicked gleam is Sousuke's eyes was like nothing she'd ever seen. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

"Go ahead and finish her," the blue-haired Arrancar snarled, painfully tightening his grip on Momo's arm. "Right through the heart!"

But Sousuke didn't plunge the blade into her heart. The glistening tip trembled in front of her, shaking as the little boy's hands were. It was a moment of hesitation that only lasted a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Momo to react. As Sousuke pulled back Kyouka Suigetsu to strike, she whipped out Tobiume and knocked it from his hands with a resounding clang. Then she swung it around towards the blue-haired Arrancar, who jumped back in an artful dodge.

"Dammit!" he bellowed. "You complete morons! Why didn't you take her sword? I said bring the girl unarmed!"

The voice of the male Arrancar that brought her replied. "Nuh-uh, Grimmjow, you said bring her in _unharmed_. If we took her sword she wouldn' have come."

But Momo wasn't paying close attention. Amidst the small commotion she'd created, she scooped up Sousuke with her free arm, jumped up onto the white throne and then deftly over it and took off running.

"Lemme go! Lemme go! Lemme go!" the boy shrieked, his arms flailing wildly and his feet kicking her furiously in the side. "I'm gonna kill you Momo!"

She squeezed him closer to her and kept on running. Behind her she could hear the Arrancar Grimmjow bark out a command. "Alert all forces! Everyone go after them!" The rumble of following steps began to swell behind her.

Momo spun around, still running, and sent a volley of scarlet fireballs from the end of Tobiume, not aiming at the Arrancar chasing her, but at the black columns that lined the wide hall. She scored a direct hit on two of them and they crashed down into rubble in front of the crowd. There was no time to stop and see if it had slowed them down, she had to keep running, turning corners and whizzing through corridors even though she didn't have a clue where she was going.

Her heart pounded blood to her brain, a backbeat to her frantic thoughts. _Gotta get out! Gotta get out! Dammit! That stupid bag over my head… I can't even remember how I came in! Can't stop running though… Argh! I wish Renji would get here with some back up!_

She turned another corner and, without warning, the darkness gave way to dull grey sunlight. A feeling of triumph leapt in Momo's throat when she realized that she had made it out of the palace, and then it instantly disappeared when she glimpsed what lay ahead of her. It was a dead end, a rocky cliff jutting out above a vast sea of black water.

"What the?" she gasped, skidding to a stop just short of the cliff's edge. Turning around to go back in the direction she came from, she let out another gasped. A small crowd of Arrancar, with Grimmjow in front, was blocking her way. Each one of them wore a bloodthirsty grin.

"Nowhere left to run or hide," Grimmjow said wickedly. "You might as well just put down the boy and let him kill you the quick way. The alternative is gonna be a Hell of a lot worse. For you, not for me. I'd love to rip you to shreds."

"I… Ow!" The sharp pain of little teeth sinking into her flesh caught Momo off guard and made her drop Sousuke. "You bit me…" Rubbing her bitten arm, she stared down at him. And he stared back at her with fiery eyes.

"Your sword, Master," Grimmjow said, stepping forward and delivering Kyouka Suigetsu to Sousuke's hands.

Sousuke didn't thank his Arrancar servant. He gazed down at his soft little hands wrapped around the green hilt of his sword.

Events had unraveled so fast, or at least that's how it seemed. Just moments after Grimmjow had announced the task that would allegedly give Sousuke back his grownup body Momo was there in front of his throne, ready to be slaughtered. He hadn't even had time to contemplate how killing her would lift the curse that had been placed upon him. Kyouka Suigetsu had told him that she was manipulative and selfish, but never implied that she deserved to die.

He had hesitated, and in that time Momo grabbed him and ran. In a way, she had saved him. She snatched him before Grimmjow and the Arrancar had time to judge his weakness and hesitancy. It was only a brief reprieve. Now he was back in the hot seat, blade in his hand, Momo in front of him. She was on a cliff now and there was no escape.

"Just do it!" he heard an Arrancar growl. This was accompanied by a strong shove forward.

As he walked, sword unsheathed and pointing ahead, all he could see of Momo was her feet, in Shinigami sandals, backing away until her heels reached the edge of the cliff. He refused to look up at her face. He knew he had to do this, but as he thought about the reasons, the voice in his head sounded like Kyouka Suigetsu, not himself.

_"You can do this. You must do this. This is the only way you can live up to your true potential. She's held you back and tried to control you, and she'll continue to unless you eliminate her. Eliminate your useless attachment to her."_

This voice inside of him made Sousuke feel braver and stronger, and he spoke at last. "You, Hinamori Momo… You are the one responsible for me being turned into a weak child, losing all my memories. You wanted to brainwash me and turn me into what _you_ think I should be. You wanted to keep me from being the King I was born to be… But you won't stand in my way anymore."

After finishing his last sentence, Sousuke looked up, but not at Momo's face. He only raised his gaze high enough to see her zanpakutou, which she was holding out in front of her. The blade was shaking. Something inside of him told him that she would never use the sword against him, but just in case he swung Tobiume against it and it flew out of her hands and over the cliff.

Now, pressing the tip of his zanpakutou to her chest, he finally looked his prey in the eyes. What he saw was not what he had expected. Her face was not colored by fear or anger or hatred. Instead, she had the most profound expression of mourning and there were tears in her eyes.

"Sousuke…" she said in a trembling voice, looking at his eyes rather than the blade that was touching her chest. "Sousuke, all I ever wanted… was for you to be happy… for you to have a home where you were safe and didn't have anything to worry about or feel sad about… That's all I wanted…"

Just like before, Sousuke found himself unable to act. His brain was telling his arms to stab, but they wouldn't comply. Moments ago he couldn't look Momo in the eyes, now he couldn't look anywhere else but those sad brown eyes leaking tears down her face.

"JUST DO IT!" Grimmjow roared in his ears. "THIS IS NO TIME FOR SENTIMENTALITY! DO IT AND YOU"LL GET YOUR BODY BACK! JUST PUT THE FUCKING SWORD THROUGH HER BODY! YOU"VE DONE IT ONCE BEFORE!!!"

The mourning in Momo's eyes turned to horror, a change that Sousuke noticed at the same time that Grimmjow's words sunk in. "I…" he spoke through a shaking jaw. "I…"

"No! Don't listen to him!" Momo pleaded. Her body strained to reach out to him, but his sword was still poised in front of her, keeping her in place.

"I stabbed you…" he said numbly. "I gave you that scar on your chest…"

"That's right!" a booming voice shouted from the back of the crowd.

Sousuke lowered his blade and turned to look at the horde of war-worn Arrancar. Behind them, three Shinigami had arrived, that red-haired babysitter Renji, a tough-looking guy with orange hair, and a girl who looked a little bit like Momo. Each of them had their Zanpakutou out and looked ready to fight but none had made a move yet. None of the Arrancar dared to touch them, though many were staring in shock. It was Renji who had spoken.

"You're the one who gave Momo that scar," he continued. "I dunno if anyone here filled you in on all the things you've done, but that's about the worst. Before you left Soul Society, you stabbed her and left her for dead."

Breathing shallowly, Sousuke turned around, back to Momo. "You… you never said anything, Momo… Why? And… and how… how come you let me come live with you after I tried to kill you?"

"I didn't want you to know," she whimpered. "I didn't what you to grow up knowing that you did that. I didn't want you to feel guilty or think that you were bad. After all, I had already forgiven you. I wanted everyone else to forgive you too… Don't feel bad about it, please… I forgive you, Sousuke. I forgive you."

Without even realizing it, Sousuke had begun sobbing. He was still just a kid after all. He had just learned of this horrible thing that he had done to Momo, yet it felt like he'd been waiting his whole life to hear her say what she just had, that she forgave him.

Then his stomach did a back flip and twisted into a knot. Was it really Momo's forgiveness he'd longed for all this time? Or was it Masaki's? His young brain had barely even realized this confusion when Grimmjow interrupted with another furious outburst.

"You miserable little fuck! That bitch forgiving you isn't gonna undo what you've done! What about us? You created Arrancar for no other purpose than to kill for you and make you a King! Now you're going to desert us, abandon your destiny to go live with this treacherous woman? That makes you the lowest kind of shit there is! I see no reason to let you live!"

Grimmjow lunged at Sousuke with bloodlust in his eyes and Sousuke prepared for his imminent murder. But in an impossible feat of speed, Momo dashed over and wedged herself between the boy and his attacker. "Don't you lay a finger on him!" she hissed.

The furious Arrancar didn't say a word, just swung his arm and brought his fist against the side of Momo's head. Sousuke watched in horror as her body sailed off of the cliff and downward towards the black sea below.

"Ya won't be seeing her no more!" Grimmjow said in a loud, and disturbingly triumphant voice. "So, Master, now that the girl is out of the way, we'll have to find a new way to get your body back. But at least you've got nothing keeping you from your destiny."

Sousuke was still staring down at the falling spot of black that was Momo's body. She hadn't hit the water yet. He could hear Grimmjow's voice, but it was no clearer than the sounds of Momo's Shinigami friends shouting in disbelief. Sousuke looked up at Grimmjow, only for a moment, and then back at the sea. Then he nodded and launched himself off the edge of the cliff, following Momo to whatever destiny was below them.

To be concluded…


	14. Chapter 14

Free Talk is at the end...**  
**

**Bad Boy**  
By Miss Angel Maxwell

* * *

Chapter 14: Finding Happiness

* * *

The sound of wind roared in Sousuke's ears as he plummeted earthward at a terrifying speed, but it couldn't drown out Momo's voice inside his head. 

_"All I ever wanted was for you to be happy … for you to have a home where you were safe and didn't have anything to worry about or feel sad about… I wanted everyone else to forgive you too…"_

The imagined words were punctuated by a very real splash as Momo met the surface of the water. A few moments later Sousuke hit as well, with a magnificent cold smack that burned his entire body and knocked the thoughts from his head before he numbly sank into the dark, icy sea.

Some unseen force seemed to be pulling him down deeper, like an invisible anchor tied around his neck. He opened his eyes to try to orient himself, but all around him was dark. Only the faintest hint of sunlight filtered down to this depth, offering indication of which direction the distant surface was.

Sousuke flailed his limbs in an attempt to fight his way towards the light, but something brushed against his arm and he groped the black water until he found it and grabbed hold of it. To his utter horror, it was a hand, and there was only one person it could belong to. Sousuke knew it was Momo immediately and, gripping tightly with both his hands, tried to pull her up to the surface with him as he kicked his legs.

But no matter how hard his little body strained, it wasn't strong enough to pull Momo up. She was sinking down further and dragging Sousuke with her. The only chance he had of saving himself was if he let go of her hand. He couldn't let go. He wouldn't.

_Momo! Momo, if you'd just wake up we could make it to the surface… I won't go without you, Momo! I won't leave you behind! Not again! All you ever did was try to make me happy, and all I ever did was hurt you…_

Now, as he plunged deeper and deeper through the painfully cold water, barely able to hold his breath any longer, Sousuke finally understood his own feelings and he realized what had made him jump over the cliff after Momo. That elusive and frightening emotion he kept feeling in his chest over the past few days with her, it was happiness, the pure and wonderful kind of happiness that can only come from being loved unconditionally. Sousuke couldn't remember being a ruthless dictator, but he knew that he couldn't have been happy then, and Momo must have known it too. Somehow she must have known that he belonged with her. She was his savior and his home.

But this revelation had come too late. There was no future now for him and Momo, just death at the bottom of a freezing sea in Hueco Mundo. He couldn't do anything to save her. His last thoughts before losing consciousness were of splashing around in the hot water of the bath with her. The memory was enough to keep him warm in his final moments.

Death. It wasn't like anything Sousuke could have imagined. An instant after he passed out, he was returned to lucidity, more awake than he had ever felt in his life. Liquid heat flowed from his chest, through his limbs, filling him all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. This delicious new energy inside him was so strong he felt like he could barely contain it all in his little body, like he was going to burst at the seams. Even his clothing felt tight, too small to contain him. If this was death, it was wonderful.

But something wasn't right. Sousuke was still under water, still holding his breath. Somehow this surge of energy eliminated his need for oxygen, yet there was no denying that he was still submerged in the black sea. He could feel Momo's hand, held tightly within both of his. It seemed so small now.

_Wait… it's not her hand that got smaller… It's mine that got bigger! My whole body's bigger, transformed! I… I remember things, too! My life! I remember my life! And I still remember being a little kid and living with Momo… Momo!_

Sousuke didn't waste another second contemplating his transformation. He used the miraculous surplus of energy and kicked his long, strong legs, propelling him and Momo up to the surface. As soon as he reached the atmosphere, he heaved Momo, who was now remarkably light, over his shoulder and swam to the nearest shore as fast as he could.

_You have to be alive, Momo! You have to!_

A small crowd, the surviving Arrancar and Momo's friends, had converged on the gravelly bank and were watching with rapt anticipation. All fighting between them had ceased. Sousuke, however, paid them no attention. He was wholly focused on Momo as he emerged from the water and lay her down on the beach.

He was in panic mode now. Momo had been under water longer than he had, and he'd only survived thanks to his impeccably timed metamorphosis. He leaned over her, holding his ear close to her face. She wasn't breathing. Immediately, he tilted her head back and breathed into her mouth. His knowledge of resuscitation, learned during his Shinigami training, had returned along with his other lost memories. His spectators remained completely silent as he continued his efforts for what seemed to him like an eternity.

Finally, Momo gave a choked, sputtering cough, emptying her waterlogged lungs. Then she gasped and gasped as she took in fresh air. Sousuke had never felt more relieved in his entire life and he couldn't help beaming down a ridiculous grin at the girl he'd just rescued.

"Sousuke?" she said, still weak. "Sousuke… you got big…"

"Yeah," he said. "I got big so I could save you, Momo." He paused for a moment, surprised by the familiar sound of his mature voice. Momo looked taken aback as well. Sousuke realized just then that he had never spoken Momo's first name as a grown man. He liked the way it sounded. "Momo. Momo…" He scooped her up joyfully, folding her sopping little frame against him in a tight embrace. "Momo, you're alive!"

When he finally let her out of the hug, she looked up at him, smiling as if she might be about to cry. "Sousuke," she said softly, stroking his cheek. Even though he had his old body back, she had no reason to call him Captain or Aizen anymore. They had been through too much. For a few moments she just stared into his eyes, but then he noticed her gaze drop lower and her face turn bright scarlet. "Sousuke… you're completely naked!"

Sousuke looked down at his body. He had been so obsessed with saving Momo's life that he hadn't noticed that he'd burst right through his child-sized clothing. All that remained now were a few tattered scraps of kimono hanging around his arms.

"It's not like you didn't already see everything when we took a bath together," he said with a playful smile.

Momo was still adorably flustered. "That was different. It was… I mean… you were… much smaller then…" She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

Luckily one of the Arrancar from the crowd stepped forward and silently handed Sousuke a jacket. He put it on and made sure he was fully covered before he spoke again. "You can open your eyes now, Momo. I'm decent."

"Sorry 'bout that," she said sheepishly. "You must think I'm so silly to react that way. I mean… I know you're still the same boy who sat in my lap and listened to Peter Pan. You are, right?"

"No," Sousuke answered, causing Momo to gasp nervously. "I'm not the naughty little boy who spent the last few days with you. I'm a grown man now. But I'm not the Captain who hurt you and left you scarred, either. I think I'm something else now."

"A good guy?" Momo asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm just a guy who wants to be happy with you."

Momo beamed. "Let's go home, Sousuke."

Sousuke took her hand, and for the first time he became aware of their audience. Arrancar and Shinigami were looking at the two of them with expressions of bewilderment that he didn't know how to address. He was sure that they had questions and not sure that he had answers. Before anyone else could speak, the orange-haired Shinigami extricated himself from the crowd. Now that his memories had returned, Sousuke recognized him immediately.

"You're Kurosaki Ichigo," he said gently as the young man approached him. "The boy I tried to kidnap, who eventually knocked me from my throne and captured me. Masaki's son."

"That's right," Ichigo replied, eyeing Sousuke from head to toe with an expression of restrained ferocity and eyes that looked like his mother's. "So I suppose this means you got your memories back along with your body."

Sousuke nodded and was about to say something, but the boy continued before he got a chance.

"Don't say anything nice. Don't try to explain or apologize. I'm not ready to hear it yet. But for now…" He paused and starred into Sousuke's eyes. "For now I will let you live. I will accept you and won't try to fight you. I can't forgive you, Aizen… but I know my mother would. My dad said that she loved you very much, but that doesn't mean that I do."

"That's alright," Sousuke said softly. He was in awe of Ichigo response. He hadn't expected to be forgiven. This boy, his nephew, had every reason to hate him and want to kill him. But he had still offered him Masaki's forgiveness, and that gave Sousuke hope.

After Ichigo had slunk off to be with Renji and the Kuchiki girl, another figure stepped in front of Sousuke to speak to him. It was Grimmjow.

"Well," he growled. "You got your body back after all. I know you didn't break the spell by deciding you want unimaginable power and a terrifying army at your command. It was for that damn woman, wasn't it?"

Sousuke exchanged a quick loving glance with Momo before answering. "Yep. You said that the only way to reverse it was for me to decide what kind of man I wanted to be. I chose to be a man who would always take care of this girl and never make her cry again."

"Doesn't do much for us, Arrancar," Grimmjow grumbled. "You're just going to leave us here to rot? With no purpose?"

"Why don't you come to Soul Society" Momo chimed in. "You could become Shinigami and fight for good. You guys are really strong, right?"

The blue-haired Arrancar gave a small snort of disgust at the girl's cute optimism. "You really think the likes of us would be allowed to enter Soul Society?"

"I don't see why not," Sousuke answered. "They let me back in. Besides, I think you might be a great addition to the 11th Division, Grimmjow."

"Errr… We'll discuss it," he said gruffly. "In the mean time, I suppose you're gonna want this back." He shoved Kyouka Suigetsu into Sousuke's hands.

Sousuke held the blade in front of him with two hands and scrutinized her carefully. She had been his greatest ally during his grand plot, serving him so loyally. But she had also deceived him when he was mere child, had poisoned his mind against the one person he needed most. Rage filled up his insides and his grip on the sword tightened.

"Don't break it," Momo said, gently touching his arm. "It's you zanpakutou. It's an extension of yourself. If you can change, your zanpakutou can change, too. And it has to serve its master anyways."

"I suppose she'll come around," he sighed. Then he tucked Kyouka Suigetsu under his arm and took Momo's hand again. "Just to warm you, though, I think she's very jealous of you."

Momo looked stunned for a moment and then started giggling. "I don't think Tobiume was ever jealous of you."

"Izuru was," added Renji, who had come over to make sure that his friend Momo was okay.

The comment made Sousuke frown. "That goes both ways," he pouted, causing Momo's giggles to turn into loud laughter. It was the most beautiful sound.

"Come on," she said when she'd caught her breath. "It's time to go home."

* * *

_Two Weeks Later  
_

* * *

The first thing Momo felt as she woke up was Sousuke's hot breath seeping through her kimono and pooling against her skin. He slept like this every night, arms around her, face snuggled against her chest, just like he did for the brief time he was her little boy. Momo didn't mind, even if he did look ridiculous with his legs hanging off the end of the futon.

He was still asleep and Momo didn't want to wake him, so she kissed his brown hair and just lay there peacefully. When she glanced past his head to the clock, however, her attitude changed immediately. "Nine-fifteen!" she shouted, wriggling to try and free herself from Sousuke's arms. "Wake up! It's nine-fifteen! We're gonna be late!"

"Late fer whut?" he asked groggily.

"We hafta be at the Academy at nine-thirty!" she answered loudly. "Oh, we'll never be able to get ready fast enough! We… Hey! Don't laugh at me like that!"

Really Sousuke wasn't laughing so much as he was smirking at her, as if she was overreacting. "All right then, let's get ready," he said, without any trace of concern, sitting up and stretching at a leisurely pace.

Momo was still in a tizzy. "We don't really have time to eat breakfast… Oh man, I can't believe I overslept… Have you seen my uniform? Where did I…"

Sousuke swooped down and silenced her with a finger pressed to her lips. "You talk too much, Momo lady," he said. "It's just the entrance ceremony. Nobody is gonna care if we're a little late."

"But we're officers!" she protested. She was going to say more, but Sousuke's carefree smile mellowed her out. The influence of his days as a five-year old was obvious. "Let's go get dressed," she said in a much calmer tone.

Sousuke went off to his own room and left Momo alone to change. As she was tying her hair back in its usual bun, she heard her belly growl. Having to skip breakfast was the worst part of oversleeping and she silently cursed her malfunctioning alarm clock. But it was very important to her that they not be late for this appointment. More than just wanting herself to be taken seriously as an officer, Momo wanted the rest of Soul Society to trust and respect Sousuke again, which would not be an easy feat.

"Are you ready yet?" Sousuke called with mock impatience.

Momo turned around to answer him and there he was, framed in her doorway, fully dressed and grinning broadly. "Let's go," she replied, smiling back. "Looks like we'll make it on time."

"That's good," he said. "Grimmjow would be so disappointed if we didn't show up at the entrance ceremony for the new class."

"Go ahead and laugh," said Momo. "But I think it's wonderful that the surviving Arrancar have been accepted into the Shinigami Academy. I mean... not all of them chose to... But some of them did and that's amazing. It's always better to help bad guys be good than to just kill them. I mean, if you can. I believe everyone is capable of changing. And I believe that eventually everyone else will accept that you have changed, too, Sousuke. Even Ichigo will."

"I'll understand it if he doesn't," Sousuke sighed, suddenly very serious. He had a look on his face like he was trying very hard not to seem sad, but Momo saw through it. Masaki and Ichigo were both still very tender issues that he wasn't ready to talk about, even with her. She wasn't going to try and force him though. She just tilted her head sympathetically and touched his arm.

The smile popped back onto his face. "Now c'mon, Momo lady! We're wasting precious time!" Then, without warning, he scooped her up with one arm and tossed her onto his shoulder. Then he made a beeline for the front door of their home.

"Hey! Lemme go!" she shouted in alarm. "You can't just pick me up 'cause you're bigger, Sousuke! Put me down!"

"Sorry," he chirped back. "Height is right! Besides, we'll get there faster if I do all the running."

"You're not gonna carry me like this all the way there, are you?" Momo asked.

"Sure am," he answered as he opened the door. "Oh… Hello…" he said more politely.

He set Momo down on her feet and she saw the reason why his tone had changed. Standing right outside the door was Matsumoto Rangiku, her hand poised as if she had been about to knock when it opened. Hanging from her other arm was a basket and perched on her shoulders was a tiny boy with silver hair and eyes like a fox.

"Rangiku, Gin… good morning," Momo greeted. "What… what are you doing here?"

"We brought you some breakfast," Ran answered, indicating the basket. "Thought it would be a nice start for a big day. You know we're rooting for you."

"I didn't help!" little Gin declared proudly.

"Thank you," Momo said. "But I'm afraid we'll have to eat it later. We have to be at the academy in just ten minutes."

Rangiku blinked, looking thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about? It's only eight-twenty. You don't have to be at the school for over an hour."

"_Eight_-twenty?" Momo and Sousuke said at the same time.

"Your stupid clock was an hour off," he continued, rolling his eyes. "You had us panicking for nothing, Momo."

"Well, at least we can stop and eat now," she said. "Do you two want to join us, Ran?"

"Naw," the older girl said, handing over the basket to Momo. "We actually have some errands to run this morning. Besides, there's really only enough food in there for two. Anyways, we're going to get going. Good luck, Captain Hinamori, Vice Captain Aizen."

"Bye-bye," Gin piped in. "Captain Shorty, Vice Captain Four-Eyes."

"Bye," said Momo. "Good luck to you, too." And both she and Sousuke waved as their guest left. As soon as the door was closed again, they tore into the food.

"Hey! There's muffins in here!" Sousuke said excitedly before stuffing one into his mouth. Apparently he was just as hungry as Momo. "So… I notished that Ging shtill hashn't changed bag," he said through a mouthful of muffin.

Momo was eating a slice of fresh melon much more daintily. "Not everyone can break the kidou as quickly as you did," she said. "Even Captain Unohana couldn't believe how fast it happened. But, you know, I'm not so sure that you've changed all that much from being a little boy. Look at your face, it's covered in crumbs."

Sousuke smiled at her without wiping his face. "Can we still skip taking a bath for now? I hate having to shampoop my hair… unless you do it for me…"

"Oh Sousuke," she laughed. She took a handkerchief and wiped his mouth and then threw her arms around him. "You're still just a naughty little boy inside. It almost makes me wish you were still so tiny I could pick you up in my arms."

There was a brief silence while the two of them just looked at each other, looked into each other's eyes. Then Sousuke gave a smile like he had just thought of a brilliant idea. "Let's have a baby, Momo," he said, sounding completely serious.

"W-what?" she stuttered in disbelief. "A… a baby? But… we're not even married."

"Then let's get married," he said.

"Married? You want to get married?" She could feel her heart speeding up and her face growing warm and red. "I want to be together forever… But married already? We haven't even kissed yet…"

Without another word, Sousuke leaned in and kissed her. It was a wonderful, long, deep kiss that left her whole body tingling. When it was over, all she could manage to say was "Wow…"

"I've been wanting to do that ever since I became a man again in Hueco Mundo," he said softly.

"Wow," was still all Momo could say.

She had been waiting for that kiss even longer than he had. She had wanted to kiss Aizen Sousuke since she was just a student at the Shinigami Academy. And now she had kissed him. But he wasn't the same man that she had longed for back then. This Aizen Sousuke was whole and happy, and Momo could see their future together. And all it took was for him to see things, see her, through the eyes of a not-exactly-innocent child.

THE END

Final Free Talk- Well, there it is. I hope the ending wasn't too sappy for everyone. I like a badass Aizen as much as anyone, but sometimes a girl just has to write something cute and sweet. From the start I intended this to be a silly, lighthearted story based mostly around the daily life of Momo and Little Sousuke. Then I started to worry about it getting too boring and it started treading into darker waters, but I still wanted a happy ending. Now I worry that the ending might feel tacked on and syrupy. I try to improve with each story I write... but keep in mind that I am a sucker for a happy ending, one that leaves you smiling. If there was ever an Aizen/Hinamori setup where I could possibly get away with such an ending, I figured this one was pretty close to it (though I would never end a story without any hope).

I actually agonized quite a bit as to whether or not Sousuke should stay little or not. I eventually decided to give him back his body but have him still be very young at heart. That way I could get away with having that kiss at the end. Of course, there are things that I wish I had done differently or executed better, but I'm not going to worry about them today. I am so happy to have completed the story. And I am so grateful to everybody who read it and enjoyed. Please tell me what you think.

I'm not sure what my next story will be or when I will start it. It will almost certainly be Bleach, though, and almost certainly feature Sousuke and Momo. I have a few seeds of ideas, but nothing is fleshed out. I kind of want to try an AU, but I don't know if I am up for the challenge. Maybe next time she'll go bad instead of him going good... In any case I probably won't write anything for a while. I have a lot of stuff to deal with in real life. But thanks for supporting this story!


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